


We'll Meet In The Stars

by ClaireofAppalachia



Category: Avatar (2009)
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-20
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-02-13 16:40:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 33,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21497218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClaireofAppalachia/pseuds/ClaireofAppalachia
Summary: Dr. Lydia O'Neill is bright-eyed cultural anthropologist eager to explore the world of Pandora. Years of studying, training, and hard work have prepared her for the trip, or so she thinks. The world of Pandora is everything she expected and more, so what's a girl to do other than to jump ship and try to make her way into the deep heart of the jungle? Adventure, friendship, and maybe even love await her out in the forest, in ways she never even expected.
Relationships: Tsu’tey te Rongloa Ateyitan/Original Character(s), Tsu’tey te Rongloa Ateyitan/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 51
Kudos: 195





	1. Send Me On My Way

_You don’t dream in cryo. _

That was what everyone had told her. She hadn’t believed it at first. How could you lie in sleep for six years straight and not have a single dream? It wasn’t until the cryo-pod released and she heard the hiss of air rushing in that she realized it was true. The last thing she could remember happening was going into sleep-mode, then darkness, then what was nearly six years of radio silence.

She groaned as the bright artificial light hit her eyes, and she wanted nothing more than to rub them, but found her arms still secured at her side by the bands across her middle. She spotted a figure float over to her in scrubs, and watched as the person began fiddling with the controls by her bed.

“Ugh… we here?” Was all she could think of to ask as the figure chuckled beneath their mask.

“Yeah, we’re here. Don’t try to move around too much, just take it nice and slow, alright?”

“Mhmm.” She affirmed, flexing her muscles as the nurse undid her restraints. It was only a second later when she began to float upwards. Panic took her as she grabbed the side bed, quickly anchoring herself to the pod.

_I’m in space, I’m really in space! I’m in a giant tin can above an alien moon and I’m floating and I think I’m going to be sick._ She reached over to the wall by her pod and fumbled around for the sick bag that had to be there somewhere. There was no way she was going to vomit into open air with no gravity. _That_ would be messy.

It was the nurse who located the bag first, passing it to her in the nick of time as she began to dry heave. There was nothing really to throw up, she realized. Only bile and air. Either way, she felt significantly better when she was finished, passing the bag to the waiting nurse with a hoarse, “thank you.”

Continuing to gain her bearings, she looked around at the others leaving stasis. There were exactly two other people she knew well on this ship. Norm Spellman, a scientifically-minded anthropologist and her language-cram buddy, and Makoto Tanaka, an entomologist, and her best friend since undergrad. So far, she couldn’t pick out either of them.

Everyone getting ejected and crawling out of their pods reminded her of animals coming out of hibernation, and in a way, they were. Hesitantly, she released her grip on the side of her bed and let herself float up and around. She was amazed at how much lighter she felt, how it was like swimming without any water. Turning around, she found the compartment above her pod that held her belongings. Three stuffed duffle bags, not to mention other equipment that would be unloaded separately. In zero gravity they were easy to lift, and she dreaded how heavy they would be planet-side.

Slinging two of the bags over her shoulder, she gripped the third in her arms and did her best to “swim” towards the restroom area. While there, she would be able to change out of the scrub-like clothes she wore and into her own. She wished she could’ve gotten a shower first, but water and zero gravity tended not to mix well.

Changing would’ve been awkward under any other circumstances, but there were hardly any other women around, and she found a fairly secluded space to ditch the scrubs and pull on her own clothes. She had to practically anchor herself to a handle on the wall while her free hand maneuvered her clothes on. One awkward shimmy-shuffle later, she was dressed in a tank top and khaki shorts. Pulling on the socks and boots proved to be yet another difficult task, since she kept floating up with her feet above her head any time she tied to pull the boots on.

She was practically curled up in a ball desperately trying to get at least one boot on when she heard a familiar voice.

“Lydia, have you thought of just pushing your foot against the wall and going from there?”

“Makoto!” Lydia laughed, abandoning her current shoeing attempt and floating over to her friend. They embraced in a tight hug, quickly abandoning it before they went freewheeling through the ships locker room.

“Sleep well?” Makoto asked, pulling off her own scrubs as Lydia went back over to try Makoto’s shoe advice, finding it much easier to pull on the boots.

“Like a rock, you?” Lydia asked, stuffing the old scrubs into the latched bin marked for them.

“Like the dead!” Makoto said pulling on her own t-shirt and pants. “Look at you, tank top and shorts! Are you aiming to find a boyfriend or something while we’re here?”

“Hah, yeah right. Only people here are jarheads, trigger-happy mercs, and nerds, like us.” Lydia said, fixing her bags again. “I’m wearing this because Pandora has a tropical climate, at least where we’re going.”

“Uh-huh, sure.” Makoto said, her tone clearly disbelieving. “Ohh maybe you’ll fall in love with a handsome Na’vi man!” Makoto joked nudging her friend in the side as she went over to the scrubs deposit.

“Okay now I know you’re REALLY dreaming. I think they’d sooner shoot me then kiss me. Besides, that’s quite a bit of height difference. And it’s not like I have an avatar or anything.” Lydia shrugged, heading over to the exit area, watching Makoto do the same shoe-dance as she had earlier.

“Ahh the wonders of arts and humanities funding.” Makoto sighed as she finished tying her boots. She “swam” over to Lydia as they both waited for the transport to the surface to open and let them board.

“Tell me about it. But you know, I’m not sure I’d even want one. And besides, we have Norm with his.” Lydia said, gripping another handle near the exit.

“Great, our hopes and dreams rest on the shoulders of Norm Spellman.” Makoto said, but there was no venom in the words.

“Oh layoff, he’s not even here to defend himself! Sure his Na’vi is too formal and he sticks his foot in his mouth too much, but he’s a good guy!” Lydia laughed.

Lydia and Makoto hovered around while the other women periodically filed in and changed, eventually joining them at the exit bay. There were maybe a few other scientists that Lydia recognized but she guessed the rest of the women were either soldiers, security, or some kind of technician.

About an hour later the exit bay became active as the doors to the shuttle opened and she and the other women boarded, meeting the men from their own locker room. The entered into the areas artificial gravity with a jolt, Lydia doing her best to wrangle her bags to her in the sudden weight.

“See Norm anywhere?” Lydia asked, moving around on tiptoes, trying to see over the heads of people around her.

“He shouldn’t be too hard to spot, he’s gotta be one of the tallest guys here.” Makoto said, swiveling her head around. Her eyes lit up when she saw him, looking slightly dazed and a little lost.

“Hey! Hey, Norm! Over here!” Makoto began waving her hands in the air, Lydia following suit once she’d spotted him.

His face lit up and he shuffled his way over to them, getting in line for the same transport.

“Hey guys! Isn’t this incredible or what?!” He grinned. He was practically vibrating from his excitement, his face glowing.

“You bet it is! I can’t wait to get out there!” Lydia replied, filing her way through the entrance and finding a seat on the shuttle. She stuffed two of her bags in the area above her seat and shoved the third one underneath. As she was getting settled a voice crackled on over a speaker.

“Please proceed to your seats and fix your provided exo-packs to your face. If you are having difficulties, please ask an attendant for assistance.” The mechanical female voice said, before promptly cutting off again. Lydia glanced around for the attendants and saw only two VERY tough looking Marines staring over the area with an air of superiority she didn’t care for at all.

Luckily, she’d run through training about the exo-pack so many times she could do it in her sleep. She pulled it out, strapped it around her head, and clicked the small switch beneath her chin. Cool air flooded in and she inhaled it, realizing that most of her breathing outside of the RDA main base would be done through this mask. She turned to look at Norm and Makoto, both of them securing theirs as only people who’d done this more times than they could count could do.

“I’m so nervous, I feel like I’m gonna throw up.” Norm muttered. “That would suck, throwing up in one of these masks.” Lydia laughed.

“I already threw up when I got out of cryo. Just bile and air though. I’m starving.”

“I know, I haven’t eaten in years!” Makoto said, rubbing her stomach as she settled more into her seat.

“Deep breaths Norm, we’ll be there soon.” Lydia said, patting him on the back as he closed his eyes. Right on cue, the automated voice piped up again.

“We will be taking off momentarily. Please do not undo your seatbelts or attempt to move around the shuttle. The trip to the surface will take approximately 20 minutes. There may be turbulence depending on planet-side weather conditions. Please follow your attendants’ orders and be prepared for a safe journey to Pandora.” The voice clicked off again and within a minute the shuttle shifted as it was loosed from the massive ship.

“Ohhh man. Oh man.” Norm said, gripping the side of his seat. “This is just like the time my cousin made me ride that massive rollercoaster.”

“Did you throw up then too?” Makoto asked, a hint of mocking in her voice.

“Oh please shut up.” Norm groaned, closing his eyes.

Lydia laughed and held on tight to her handles as the shuttle began its descent to the moon’s surface.

She couldn’t help the grin that spread across her face as the shuttle sped through the vacuum of space and into Pandora’s atmosphere. She found Makoto’s hand and gripped it, grinning at her. The grin was returned as they both held on tightly to each other, the anticipation being almost too much to bear.

The shuttle began to decline and the feeling of gravity slowly returned to Lydia’s body. Within seconds the massive aircraft landed on the base with a jolt, though not as severe as was expected.

“Alright, everybody up! Grab your gear, get in line and get ready to head to the base! Do not stop until you are inside!” The attendant barked.

“Do they know we’re not soldiers?” Makoto whispered to her friends, adjusting her pack.

“I don’t really think they care,” Lydia responded, shrugging two of her packs onto her back and passing the third to Norm, who rolled his eyes and slipped it on.

“Why did you bring so much stuff?” He asked, shifting to get a better grasp on the bags.

“Always be prepared…” she said, trying to peer over Norm’s shoulder. “I got it all on board by saying it was research equipment.” She didn’t have to turn around to know that Makoto rolled her eyes.

The shuttle door opened with a great hiss and the air of Pandora rushed in. The people in front began to jog out, and soon enough she found herself following. The screams of “move, move, move!” faded out as she finally stepped on Pandoran ground. She began to awkwardly swivel her head around, trying to see as much as she could, disappointed to mostly see concrete and metal. Out in the distance, she could see trees and the beginnings of mountains, however, and that filled her with hope.

Her sight-seeing was interrupted when she heard the hooting voices of more soldiers around the base.

“Wooo boys, look at all this fresh meat!” shouted one soldier with a bald head, grinning at them like he really was looking at a meal. “Nice form there, sweetheart!” That one was directed to her, or at least in general vicinity. She wanted to stop and give him a piece of her mind but it was Makoto behind her that stopped her.

“Not worth it, keep going.” She said, sounding just slightly out of breath.

They filed in through the gate and into what constituted as the lobby for the base. As they slowed down, Lydia could read a giant sign that read “WELCOME TO HELL’S GATE” in big block letters.

“How cheery.” She said to no one in particular. “Really makes you feel at home.”

More soldiers greeted them, shouting directions to congregate in the cafeteria. She, Makoto, and Norm all managed to get a seat near the giant windows. She stared intently out into the jungle, gray and foggy though it was.

She watched as more soldiers, scientists, and technicians filed through and took their spots around the room. People were talking, chattering back and forth to each other about their respective roles on the base, or back on Earth in the military. That chatter quickly died, however, with no warning. Turning to look at the cause, Lydia saw an older man, clearly military. He wore dark green fatigues and carried a massive sidearm, but the most distinctive feature was on his face. Several long claw marks began just away from his hairline and crossed all the way to the back of his head.

Lydia caught the name “Colonel Quaritch” and heard the opening line of “You’re not in Kansas anymore.” But then found it increasingly hard to pay attention to what the Colonel was saying. Her eyes perked at the mention of the Na’vi, but realized it was only to inform the soldiers about the Na’vi’s toxic arrows and their strong bones. “Hard to kill” was what the Colonel had said. Typical military attitude.

She faded out again, but jumped when she heard the Colonel call Norm “numbnuts” and instructed him to pay attention. She glared at him. What was it that had given him those scars, and why hadn’t it finished the job? Definitely not a thanator, they didn’t stop unless their prey was dead. Maybe a slinger? They were the scariest creatures on this world in her opinion. Able to detach their heads and hurl it at prey. Yuck.

The colonel went on and on about the various safety rules, which they all should’ve memorized by now anyway. When his sharp call of “Dismissed!” was uttered, she practically threw herself out of her chair. He gave her a bad feeling, that colonel. She felt nothing but coldness when she looked at him, and couldn’t wait to be away from him.

“I thought he’d never stop.” Makoto said, stretching out her arms.

“Yeah, sounds like he’s just blowing smoke out his ass.” Lydia said, rolling her own shoulders to work out that cryo-stiffness that didn’t seem to want to leave.

“Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be careful though. But c’mon, who wants to go see the labs?” Norm said, his eagerness once again apparent on his face.

“Lead the way!” Lydia said, opening her arm as if to direct him, and off they went.

As they were walking up the hallway, Lydia noticed a guy in front of them in a wheelchair. Odd, she thought, the RDA had exacting physical requirements for people joining up. Norm, however, took off towards the guy with a shouted “Hey!” When he turned around, it all made sense.

This guy was a dead-ringer for Tom Sully. Tom had mentioned having a brother, a twin, and this must be the twin. _He must be here to use Tom’s avatar_, she thought, watching Norm hold out his hand and state the obvious. He was putting his foot in his mouth and she and Makoto looked at each other before coming around the other side.

“What Norm means to say is that we’re all sorry for your loss. Tom was a great guy.” Lydia said, coming to stand by Norm. “I’m Dr. Lydia O’Neill.” She said holding out her hand, and Tom’s brother, Jake, shook it.

“I’m Dr. Makoto Tanaka, it’s a pleasure.” Makoto said, sticking her hand around at an angle for Jake to shake.

“Corporal Jake Sully.” He said to all of them, giving them a tight-lipped nod.

“You’re a Marine, then?” Lydia asked, eying the emblem on his shirt sleeve.

“Yep, once a Marine, always a Marine.” He said, giving away nothing in particular about himself.

“Ah. Well… that’s nice.” Lydia said, moving away to walk down to the labs, leaving Jake confused in her wake. She dawdled along the walk with Makoto beside her.

“You should give him a chance, maybe he’s nice!” Makoto said.

“Hmmm. OR maybe he’s a pompous idiot like the rest of them.” Lydia frowned. She found herself really missing Tom at that moment, despite never being all that close to him.

When they finally reached the lab, she tried to covertly move behind Norm, letting him enter the lab first. She looked at the complex control center, the avatar link pods, and all the scientists. Now this was a place she could get used to. Smart people, not just grunts.

“They’re coming out of link!” a voice said, followed by another set of voices. Lydia only caught the last bit of a voice yelling for a cigarette, and she smiled. That voice had to belong to Dr. Grace Augustine. A leading figure in the field of xenobotony, Dr. Augustine was considered instrumental in setting up contact with the local Na’vi clan, the Omaticaya.

Lydia could see Dr. Augustine’s red hair as she moved over Norm and Jake, who had caught up to them and rolled around to the front.

“Dr. Augustine it’s an honor to meet you! Dr. Norm Spellman, I’ve read all your books, it’s so great to finally meet you!” Norm babbled, shaking Dr. Augustine’s hand enthusiastically.

“Norm, I’ve heard good things about you. Let me hear your Na’vi.”

“_May the All Mother smile upon our first meeting_.” Norm said, his formal tone still glaringly obvious, Lydia noted. Dr. Augustine echoed her own thoughts.

“_Not bad, but you sound a little formal_.” Grace replied, her tone pleasant.

“_I studied for five years, but there is still much to learn_.” Norm replied, humble as ever.

“And you, Dr. Makoto Tanaka, I understand you’re a top entomologist, not to mention gifted in biology in general?”

“Yes ma’am, I hope I’ll be able to be an asset to your program.” Makoto said, shaking the other doctor’s hand firmly.

“And you,” Dr. Augustine said, looking down at Jake.

“Jake Sully, I’m here to-”

“I know who you are and I don’t need you. I need your brother.” Grace said curtly, and Lydia could hear the frown in her voice. “I need the PhD who trained for three years for this.” Lydia shyly stepped around Norm, coming to stand beside him.

“I might be able to help with that.” Lydia said, grinning at Dr. Augustine. “Hi, Aunt Grace.”


	2. Some Kind Of Nature

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Just an update on the chapter titles, I decided to name with songs that have inspired me/fit with the theme of the chapter! The first is "Send Me On My Way" by Rusted Root, and this is "Some Kind Of Nature" by Gorillaz feat. Lou Reed.

Lydia grinned as she was pulled into a hug by her aunt, Dr. Grace Augustine.

“Hey kiddo, good to see you finally made it out here.” Grace said, holding Lydia back to look at her. “Look at you, you’ve grown so much.” Grace smiled, resting her hand against Lydia’s head. The peaceful moment only lasted a second before she heard Norm behind her.

“Wait wait wait! You mean to tell me Dr. Grace Augustine is your aunt and you NEVER TOLD ME?!” Norm said, his face a mask of shock. Lydia laughed.

“The only person who knew was Makoto! I didn’t tell anyone else in the program because I didn’t want you all thinking I only got the invite to Pandora because Grace is my aunt!”

“I only knew because I’ve been friends with Lydia since we were in undergrad and she told me all about it.” Makoto said, an equally big grin on her face. “I promised not to tell so she could surprise you!”

“I really am so thrilled to be here, I’ve missed you so much.” Lydia said, giving her aunt another hug.

“Right back ‘atcha kiddo.” Grace said, returning the hug. “You’re a grown woman, I can’t believe it. It’s been what, twenty-one years?”

“Twenty-one way too long years.” Lydia smiled, rubbing at her eyes to try and stop the tears that were welling up.

The only one who didn’t seem to be caught up in the sweet reunion was Jake, who mostly just looked confused and out-of-place. It was Norm who came to his rescue, nudging Jake in the shoulder.

“I… think I need a minute to process this. Do you wanna go check out our avatars?” He said, still casting glances at Lydia and Grace.

“Uhhh sure, yeah. Let’s go.” Jake said, turning his wheelchair to follow Norm.

Makoto also separated herself from Lydia and Grace, walking around the lab to introduce herself to the others in the program. She’d found another biologist who offered to show her the newest xeno-insect samples they had, and then she was off into another lab, leaving her friend to her family.

“So, how have things been?” Lydia said, laughing at the vagueness of her question as she followed her aunt around the lab.

“I’m not gonna lie. Things have been pretty shit.” Grace said, putting out her cigarette in the small ash tray on what Lydia guessed was her aunt’s desk. “I’ve got that militaristic ape breathing down my neck at every turn, and that little prick of a CEO crawling up my ass.” Lydia laughed at her aunt’s vulgarity, just as strong as when she’d been growing up.

“Quaritch, right? He seemed like a real power trip in his safety briefing.” Grace rolled her eyes.

“Kid, you have no idea. I swear he’s just waiting for an opportunity to attack the Na’vi and get them as far away as he can.” Grace shook her head and walked out of her lab. “And that little putz, Parker… we’re going to have words.” She stormed down the hallway, Lydia following close behind. Her aunt was always a no-nonsense woman, and she had always gotten a kick out of her watching her dress someone down.

They breezed into the control room, people quickly moving out of Grace’s way. Lydia stared at all the equipment, the computers and monitors. It was crazy, how much tech was in this one room.

“Parker,” her aunt said to the leader of the RDA, who was playing an even mini-er version of mini golf. “You know I used to think it was benign regret, but now I see that you’re intentionally screwing me.” Lydia hovered behind, peeking over at the stupid 5 foot long putting course. _What is it with rich douches and golf?_ She wondered to herself.

“Grace, you know I enjoy our little talks.” Parker Selfridge deadpanned, not even bothering to look up from his course, prompting Grace to kick his coffee mug target away from the ball.

“Oops.” Grace replied, a tight grin on her face. Lydia snickered to herself. She had seen that look before, and it was never a good sign for the person on the receiving end of her ire.

“I need another researcher to drive an avatar, not some jarhead dropout.” Grace stared at Selfridge, her patience clearly thin.

Lydia listened to the back and forth between her aunt and the CEO, who seemed to think having a battle-worn marine was actually a stroke of good luck. He would be security detail, apparently. Lydia couldn’t think of a potentially worse idea for a research team.

“You’re supposed to be winning the hearts and minds of the natives. Look like them, talk like them, the whole shebang. I mean we build them a school, we teach them English and what? Relations to the indigenous are only getting worse.”

“Well that’s what tends to happen when you use machine guns on them.” Grace said, her temper barely contained. Lydia hadn’t heard about the school, but something about it gave her a bad feeling. Had the RDA actually shot up a school full of Na’vi children?

She felt even more disgust for the mega-corporation than she had originally. She hated joining them, but they were her ticket to Pandora, to a new frontier of research. She’d had no choice, really. It wasn’t like the UN had a rocket to send people on.

Selfridge had walked into his office, Grace following him, and Lydia following her. She’d gotten a pang of that old anxiety of being someplace new and sticking to the one person you knew in the crowd. The room was full of high level technicians and soldiers. It made her nervous and set her on edge, being in a room with people who didn’t seem to be here for what she believed were the right reasons. Those reasons came to light a second later when Selfridge held up a small chunk of rock in Grace’s face.

“This is why we’re here; unobtanium. This little gray rock sells for $20 million a kilo. This is the only reason. This pays for the whole operation, for your science. Comprendo? Now those savages are threatening our whole operation and we’re on the brink of war, and you’re supposed to be finding a diplomatic solution!” Selfridge said, insisting his point by banging his hand on his desk. Lydia narrowed her eyes. This guy _was_ a prick.

“Excuse me, but it’s a bit hard to find a ‘diplomatic solution’ when one party continuously refers to the other as ‘savages.’” Lydia said coldly. Selfridge gave her a withering look.

“And who, exactly, are you?” he asked, and Lydia sidestepped her aunt to stand in front of him.

“Dr. Lydia O’Neill. I’m a cultural anthropologist for the Avatar Program, and Dr. Augustine’s niece.” She said, her tone smug and just a little condescending.

“Oh great, there’s two of you. Perfect, just perfect.” He said, rubbing his hands over his head. Grace smirked, and placed her hand on Lydia’s back, turning her to walk out.

“This conversation isn’t over, Parker.” Grace said over her shoulder as they walked out.

“I don’t expect it’ll be over for a long while.” Lydia heard him grumble as they exited the control room.

As they walked back down the corridor, Grace put her arm around Lydia.

“Hey, you’ve gotta be hungry, huh? Let’s go get dinner.” Grace guided her back throughout the base and into the cafeteria. Makoto and Norm were already there, and had seamlessly integrated themselves into a table of scientists. Jake was there too, she noticed, though he couldn’t do much harder to look out of place if he tried.

They picked up their food from the line (flash fried chicken sandwiches, potato wedges, and a cup of what Lydia guessed was vanilla pudding) and made their way to the other scientists and researchers.

Sitting down between Makoto and her aunt, Lydia actually felt welcomed at the table. These people were nerds, they were geeks, and they were great. The table was buzzing with intelligent conversation, even if Lydia only caught bits like “EMF activity is off the charts!” or “-super-conductive pathways in the naturally occurring-” It all blended together in a cacophony of theories and propositions. In the middle of it all, Grace gestured to the man sitting across from them.

“Max, this is my niece, Lydia. Lydia, Dr. Max Patel, he’s our head tech for the avatars. He oversees all the links.” Lydia awkwardly held her hand out to him across the table, gripping it firmly.

“Hi, Dr. Lydia O’Neill, cultural anthropology.” She said, smiling.

“Great to have you here! We could use a touch of the arts and humanities around this place.” Lydia laughed and he released his grip and pushed up his glasses.

“I hope I’m able to help. I feel a little out-of-place with all you STEM folks.”

“Don’t worry,” Makoto said, nudging Lydia, “we’ll all use small words for your sake.”

“Oh ha ha, laugh it up.” Lydia said, “You’re the one got confused when I was talking about post-structuralism in historiographical analysis.” Makoto grinned and flipped her middle finger at Lydia, who only returned the smile.

“Well personally I’m glad Dr. Tanaka is here. I could use someone else who cares about bugs as much as I do.” A man said several seats down from Max. He smiled and waved at Lydia.

“Dr. Robert MacDonald, I’m the only other certified entomologist here, and I’ve been bugging them, no pun intended, to get another one for years.” His accent was strong and Scottish, and he had a kind face. It was hard for Lydia to not like him immediately.

“We talked earlier when you and Dr. Augustine were having your reunion,” Makoto said. “I haven’t had this much opportunity to explore and analyze in years, if not my whole life!”

“Well you’re in for a treat!” Robert beamed, “We’ve got some really incredible insects and arachnoids here, like the…” And that was Lydia more or less lost the conversation.

“You’ll get used to it.” Grace said, patting Lydia’s back.

“It’s okay, I’ve had friends like this before. I’d be more worried about your marine there.” Lydia said, tilting her head in Jake’s direction.

“This is probably the most intelligent conversation he’s ever been around, it’ll be good for him.” Grace said, looking down at her plate. Lydia did catch her mumble “Damn jackboot-ed jarheads…” under her breath.

“You’re telling me.” She murmured back.

With dinner finished, the scientists began to disperse. She caught Robert saying he was going to the “game room” to set up a billiards game for any who wanted to come. Someone else said they had data they wanted to finish analyzing before lights out. Makoto decided to get “one last look” at the bugs before bed, meaning she would be in there for at least 2 hours.

“Norm, Jake. You two need to go rest, you’re linking up to your avatars tomorrow.” Grace said, getting up.

“Looking forward to it!” Norm said, grinning. He gave Lydia two thumbs up before leaving with Jake to find their quarters.

“I really should start reading the newer stuff about the Na’vi.” Lydia said to her aunt, following her around to the garbage disposal.

“I have some info I can give you, but you need to take it easy tonight kiddo. That was your first meal in about six years.”

“Doesn’t feel like it. It’s so weird that that much time has passed. I mean am I still 29 or am I 35? I don’t want to be 35.” Lydia said, laughing lightly. Grace chuckled.

“You don’t know how many people have had that debate. For simplicity’s sake, lets’ just say you’re still 29. Not that it feels great to know that the 8 year old I left is a woman now.” Grace smiled at her. That freckly little kid with a pile of red curls bigger than her, who had cried so hard when she left, was now an adult, a doctor no less. The curls still looked the same, at least.

“You’re staring at me, Aunt Grace.” Lydia said, touching her face to feel for a smudge or crumb that she’d missed with her napkin.

“Just thinking of the years, kid. C’mon, let’s get you that data.” She led Lydia back down to the labs, sidestepping soldiers and other techs along the way.

The link lab was quiet after dinner. It seemed a good deal of scientists had taken up Robert’s offer of billiards and had cleared out for the night.

“Okay, so here’s a data pack you can look at. This just contains information on the local biosphere, flora and fauna, a few theories on Pandoran botanical interactions, and the bare bones basics on the Omaticaya.” She handed the tablet to Lydia, who took it and immediately opened it to begin searching.

“Can’t I have more information on the Omaticaya, or the Na’vi in general? That _is_ why I’m here.”

“Yeah if you’ve got a couple years to read. When I say ‘bare bones basic’ I mean there’s at least a hundred pages on physiology, language, tools, instruments, hunting, gathering, and the like. You won’t finish it tonight, and I wouldn’t want you to. I want you to read plenty on the environment, since I plan to take you out with us in a couple of days.”

Grace had about a half a second to react before Lydia launched herself into her arms for the third time that day.

“You’re letting me go with you?! So soon?! Oh thank you thank you thank you thank you!!” Lydia said, squeezing her aunt as tight as she could.

“Easy kiddo!” Grace laughed and untangled herself a little. “You had that same reaction when I bought you that book on the world in the Bronze Age. And don’t get too excited, I’m not taking you to Hometree. We’re just going out to collect some samples.”

“You make a trip into an alien jungle sound like a walk through the park!” Lydia laughed and clicked on different tabs, pulling up pictures and graphs. There was no way she’d be able to get through even a quarter of this information tonight. Oh well. She had years here to learn. It was better than any sabbatical a university could offer.

Grace showed her to the living quarters, shared by scientists, miners, techs, and soldiers alike.

“Looks like you’re sharing a room with your friend Makoto. She seems like a bright young woman.” Grace said as she pushed open the door to the room. It immediately reminded Lydia of her freshman year dorm, complete with the blank walls, bunk bed, and a general feeling of being cramped.

“She is. We’ve been best friends since we roomed together as sophomores.” Lydia said, noticing how her bags she’d left in the labs had been stacked on the bottom bunk. Grace noticed too and gave a quick bark of laughter.

“Geez kid, do you think you brought enough stuff?”

“Hey! Wasn’t it you who told me to always be prepared?” Lydia said in defense of her pile of bags.

“Yeah, but I wasn’t exactly talking about bringing your whole wardrobe with you to an alien moon.”

“It’s not my whole wardrobe! It’s just stuff I think I’ll need…” She walked over to her bags and began unzipping and searching them. A lot of her bag-space _was_ taken up by clothing, but she figured it was better to have too many options rather than too little.

“I’ve got stuff like this!” Lydia said, pulling out a long sheath by its handle. Grace stared at her.

“You brought a machete? You really are your mother’s daughter.” Grace said, rubbing her forehead.

“What? She always carried one in her car! And she had to use it once too! These guys nearly carjacked her but they ran away when she pulled it out!” Lydia said, undoing the clasps on the sheath and pulling out the long blade. “And besides, I thought it might be good to have, ya know? In case something comes at me…” Lydia said, letting the blade dangle by her side.

“Well by all means, feel free to carry it, but it won’t do much good against any of the big predators here.” Grace shrugged.

“I know that. But there’s smaller stuff too, like stingbats and slingers.”

“The stingbats will leave you alone if you leave them alone. As for the slingers, they’re pretty rare.”

“Really? I was wondering if it was a slinger that gave that colonel his scars.” Grace snorted.

“Nah. Attila was attacked by a viperwolf pack, and one got him pretty good. A nice welcome gift from Pandora.” Grace walked around the room to the small desk and ran her fingers across it. “Sometimes I wish they’d gotten him just few inches deeper…”

Lydia walked over and put her arm around her aunt.

“I know what you mean.”

“Well, anyways. You read up on Pandora tonight, and we’ll begin preparations to go out tomorrow. Get some rest, kiddo.”

“I will. Love you, Aunt Grace.” She smiled and gave her aunt another hug.

“Love you too, Lydia. Goodnight.”

Once her aunt had left, Lydia began sorting through the rest of her bags. Clothes, toiletries, personal items. Then there was her tablet. It contained a massive amount of information on Earth. Cultures, items, histories, stories, pictures. It was like a dream databank for a cultural anthropologist. What she _hoped_ to do was connect with the Omaticaya, and use this little piece of tech to show how much more humanity was capable of. That they weren’t all gun-toting idiots who shot first and asked questions later. That they had songs, dances, traditions. She wanted to build a bridge, despite how much the soldiers here seemed intent on blowing it up. Whether or not that was actually possible remained to be seen. From what Grace had said, and going by how Selfridge had acted, the possibility of friendly relations seemed far away.

She was halfway through a section on Pandoran weather this time of year when Makoto came in, waving goodbye to someone in the hall.

“Night, Robert, thanks for the tour!”

“Anytime! Glad to have you here, and goodnight!”

Makoto shut the door and leaned back against it with her eyes shut.

“Lydia, if I’m dreaming do me a favor and never wake me up.”

“Having a good time with the bugs, then?”

“Oh you have NO idea,” Makoto said, walking over to Lydia and plopping down on the bed. “You should see some of the samples they have. There are these glow worms, and the bioluminescence they have is so incredible. And they’re working on this special serum that’s supposed to counteract the venom that hellfire wasps eject when they sting. They say they haven’t killed anyone yet, but it’s really a matter of time until they do because the wasps swarm in groups as big as the mining equipment here! And then the arachnoids, oh man they’re so interesting. Apparently their venom is hallucinogenic, but also deadly in some circumstances. Robert told me the Na’vi know how to balance out the venom with an alkaloid, and what I wouldn’t give to have access to that.” She flopped back on the bed.

“I’m happy for you, I really am! I hope you’re able to look at all kinds of weird bugs while you’re here.”

“What about you, what’ve you been up to?” Makoto asked, eyeing Lydia’s data packet.

“Well after talking some more with Grace, she told me she’s taking me out with her in a few days to collect samples! Until then I’m reading this to brush up on the Pandoran ecosystem and all that jazz.”

“Ohhh fun,” Makoto grinned. “Study, study, study. It never changes, huh?” She got off of Lydia’s bed and crawled up onto her bunk. “Look, we’re even back in our old dorm room!”

“Ugh don’t say that. As long as the showers here don’t leak into the corner, I think I might be able to handle this.”

“I’m pretty sure the showers here are communal too, so not super fun on that account either.” Makoto said, shuffling through her own bag on the top bunk. “Hey can I borrow your tooth brush, I think I forgot mine.”

“Ha ha. Pretty sure you used that on me every year in undergrad.”

“No, I’m serious, I really forgot it!”

“Yeah uh huh, guess you’ll just perish from halitosis and gum disease.” She felt Makoto thump back on her bed with a dramatic sigh.

“You’re no fun.”

“I am very fun, just not when it comes to bad jokes that’ve repeated for three years straight!”

She heard Makoto make a farting sound with her mouth, then felt her shift and go back to digging in her bag.

“So… what’re your thoughts on that marine they brought here?” Makoto asked. Lydia only groaned in response.

“Okay, so not great. Did you see him at dinner? He looked totally lost.”

“He probably is. He doesn’t belong here.”

“Damn, pretty harsh opinion on some guy you don’t know.”

“Oh come on, you know he doesn’t! He’s a soldier, he’s a killer. Where do you wanna bet he was stationed? Bolivia? Brazil? Venezuela? There’s no telling where he fought in the oil wars.”

“I’m sure that he is personally responsible of the imperial conquest of the world in the name of oil.” Makoto deadpanned. “I mean, I’m not saying you have to like him, but at least give him a small chance? Maybe he’s not so bad.”

“Yeah and maybe he’ll be just as bad as the rest of them.”

“Ok well, I’m going to choose to be an optimist and you can go pout in your pessimism.”

“I’m not pessimistic! I’m as excited as I’ve been in my whole life, and I’m not gonna let some stupid jar head ruin it!”

“That’s the spirit!” Makoto hopped down from the top bunk, tooth brush and toiletries in hand. “I don’t know about you but I’m dying for a shower and the chance to brush my teeth.”

Together they found the restroom and shower area, which was unfortunately as communal as a college dorm’s. The line was long and each shower had a five minute time limit, to maintain control over water supply and the hot water usage.

Lydia’s mind wandered while she waited, and she thought about the monumental task ahead of her. As she scrubbed down, she couldn’t help but think of how difficult it would be to try and sway the RDA’s already low opinion of the Na’vi. How on Earth (or now Pandora, she guessed) was she supposed to sway a megacorporation when millions of people couldn’t even do it back home? Her thoughts continued to haunt as she crawled into bed, giving Makoto a quiet “goodnight.”

“Is something the matter?” Makoto asked, sensing her friend’s unease.

“I… yeah. Kinda. It’s just. These are the same people who are killing our world. How can we trust them to not do the same thing here?”

“I don’t think we can. All we can do is work together to make them see.”

“Ha. Easier said than done.”

“Aren’t all things worth doing?” Makoto said solemnly.

“I suppose so.” Lydia sighed.

The task in front of her was insurmountable, that much was certain. _Who knows,_ she told herself, _maybe it’ll work out. Nothing ever got done by not trying_. She still found it hard to believe her own thoughts as she fell asleep.


	3. Wildflowers

Waking up after her first normal sleep in six years was jarring. For a split second Lydia found herself panicked, wondering where she was. Then the events of yesterday began to replay in her head, reminding her that she was on Pandora. She felt a massive burst of excitement, remembering that her aunt was planning to take her out into the jungle. She was also terrified, but the excitement she had about getting out trumped that almost completely.

“Makoto, you up?” She asked, nudging the top bunk from underneath with her foot.

“Mhmm.” She mumbled back, shifting around. “Stop poking me.”

“Well get up and then I won’t poke you.” Lydia rolled out of bed, wincing as her bare feet hit the cold tiled floor.

“Geez, do you think they could’ve put down some carpeting or something?”

Makoto climbed out of her bunk, frowning when her feet touched the floor.

“I guess they think all the military people will be used to less than comfortable living quarters.”

“Wish I’d known that earlier, I would’ve brought some slippers.” Instead, the both of them slipped on the flip flops they’d worn into the shower and made their way down to the restroom. Unfortunately, it was as crowded then as it was last night, and they barely made it to the cafeteria in time for breakfast.

The scientists were gathered at their table, the conversation just as fast-paced and intelligent as it had been the previous night. When Lydia was able to squeeze in next to Grace, she was able to catch what she’d been saying to Norm and Jake.

“I need the both of you to eat well, more than what you’d normally eat. Your link might take more out of you than you’d expect, and I want you to stay healthy while your body is out of action. And Norm I said eat more I didn’t say shove it in your face all at once.”

Lydia looked at Norm, who was currently stuffing his face with the rehydrated eggs and bacon, his glass of water halfway to his mouth. He flushed and quickly swallowed, going back to eating at a normal pace. 

Lydia couldn’t help but stuff her mouth too. She was excited to see Norm link up for the first time, mostly because he wouldn’t stop talking about it before they left. This was his dream too, and as his friend, it made her happy to see him live it out.

Once breakfast was finished, most of the scientists made their way to the labs. Lydia and Makoto tagged along behind Grace, who dismissed Norm and Jake to change into comfortable clothes for the link.

While she was poking around the link lab, she came to a large window that overlooked a brightly lit room. Inside the room were Norm and Jake’s avatars, dressed in hospital gowns, completely inert. She couldn’t help but stare at them. It was the first time she’d ever seen anything like this up close, and she couldn’t really comprehend it. Norm and Jake would be piloting these bodies remotely, living in them like their own. She couldn’t help but feel a little creeped out by it.

“Weird, isn’t it?” Max’s voice came from behind her, and she turned away from the bodies.

“Definitely. I mean, I get why they’re important but they just… give me the willies I guess.” She laughed and walked back to the center of the lab, turning her attention to the neural scans of the avatars.

“Completely understandable! I heard you qualified for an avatar yourself but chose not to have one developed?” He asked, turning his attention to the screens as he began to prep the link chambers.

“That’s right. I…have my reasons.” She said, peering over his shoulders at the complex scans. It was at that moment that Grace walked in, dressed in a lab coat and all business. 

“Reasons that will prove to be either very interesting, one way or the other.” She said, coming up to them and tapping on the screen beside Max. “I’m interested to see if your theory will work, I think it’s definitely worth a shot.”

“Thank you! I hope it’ll work out.”

“It better, I don’t wanna deal with the fallout if it doesn’t.” Makoto said, coming around to face them.

“Your support means the world to me.” Lydia deadpanned, walking over to her.

“What’re best friends for?” She laughed and threw her arm around Lydia’s shoulder. “I’m sure it’ll work, it’s a good idea.”

“Alright you two,” Grace said, gesturing them to pay attention. “If you want to see Jake and Norm link up, why don’t you go wait on the compound, near the orchard? They’ll link up, get adjusted, and be out in about an hour. Go, explore. Get some exercise in those post-cryo limbs.”

“Ohh we couldn’t see that coming in yesterday, let’s go!” Makoto pulled Lydia towards the exits on the other side of the lab.

“Just past the training equipment, towards the long house!” Grace shouted after them before turning back to the link scans.

After pulling on their masks, Lydia and Makoto stepped outside and into the open air for the first time, not counting their initial arrival. The day was bright, and a slight breeze brushed their hair back. The compound was a mix of concrete, wood, and plant-life, an interesting meeting point between the RDA and the jungle of Pandora. Avatar drivers scattered around the site, the closest two deeply engaged in a game of one-on-one basketball on a Na’vi sized court.

“Woah…” Lydia said, her feet carrying her off the concrete patio and onto the dirt path.

“Woah is right… this place is massive.” Makoto eyed the hurdle course, the smallest hurdles easily as tall as her.

They wandered down the path, waving at the avatar drivers they passed, several of whom re-introduced themselves from the previous night’s dinner. The drivers were climbing up walls, jogging, or just standing around talking about data, completely engrossed as if they were in their own bodies, and not strange vessels.

One driver, who Lydia recognized as Dr. Beatrice Eriksson, another xenolinguist, was currently attempting to scale the rope-climbing wall, though she wasn’t having the best of luck at it. She couldn’t be more than 15 feet off the ground, though she gripped onto the rope like it was a lifeline.

“Hey, Beatrice, need some help?” Makoto called, a grin pulling at her face as the other woman lost her grip and skidded down the wall, letting a small yelp out.

“No, no, I’m okay, I’ve got it!” She yelled, though her voice portrayed anything but confidence.

“C’mon, Beatrice, I want to see you on top of that wall by the end of this week!” Grace’s voice called out, but when Lydia turned to look, it wasn’t the old familiar visage of her aunt approaching her, but a 9 and ½ foot tall Na’vi version of her aunt.

“Aunt Grace?!” Lydia yelled, running up to the massive avatar of her aunt.

“The one and only!” Grace smiled, her avatar looking years younger than her, all bright eyes and lean muscles. She knelt down to Lydia and Makoto’s eye level, grinning ear to ear.

“I can’t believe this, look at you! What would mom say? I mean you’re gorgeous, and you’re so tall! You look like you, but you don’t! This is so weird!” Lydia laughed as she examined her aunt’s avatar closer. The smaller nose, the lips, the bone structure, it all came together to form a unique avatar that was totally and unequivocally Grace.

“I’m sure your mother would be mad that I’m finally taller than her.” Grace responded, standing up. “So what do you think of our little compound here?”

“I think it’s great! I’d work out here all the time if I could. It feels so much better than being inside, except for the, ya know.” Lydia tapped her exo-pack, and unfortunate and cumbersome necessity for non-avatar drivers.

“Breathing, is unfortunately, something I like doing very much.” Makoto piped up. “This is all incredible, Dr. Augustine. I’d love to explore more around here, if I can. May I ask, do many bugs come onto the compound? Because if they do, I’d love to poke around for them.”

“We do get quite a few around the orchards, mostly they come around to search for nectar, and we have issues with keeping hellfire wasps from buildings nests, but I’m sure Robert can show you some of his favorite spots-” Grace was interrupted from her bug-talk by the sound of distant shouting. She, Lydia, and Makoto all turned to look for the source.

Sprinting down the middle of the compound, in only a hospital gown was Jake’s avatar, running full-tilt as he ran for what must’ve been the first time in years. The grin on his face was ecstatic as he jumped out of the way of an amp-suit driver, paying no mind to anything but running.

“Well look at him go.” Grace said, a small smile on her face. Lydia had to admit that despite her dislike for Jake, it was a pretty heart-warming site to see someone run when they’d been denied that feeling for years. Jake skidded to a stop just a row of fruit away from them and just stood there, digging his feet into the dirt, clearly relishing the feeling in his toes.

“Hey, Marine!” Grace called out as she strolled around the row, pulling a fruit loose and tossing it too him, “Think fast!”

Jake caught the fruit and immediately bit into it, the juice bursting onto his gown.

“Oh man, that’s good!” Jake said, his face lighting up.

“Jake, wait up!” Lydia saw another gangly, gown-clad figure running through the crops.

“Norm!” Lydia and Makoto both called at the same time. He skidded to a halt in front of them, nearly tripping in his rush.

“Hey guys, check this out! I’m like a living god!” He said, dropping his voice and posing like a bodybuilder.

“I wouldn’t go _that_ far,” Makoto said, walking around to circle him. “Considering that we can all see your bare blue ass.”

Norm’s face blushed a shade of near purple as he spun around, his hands grabbing the back of the gown to pull it closed.

“Hey, watch the tail!” Makoto hopped back as the appendage nearly wacked her in the head.

“Sorry, I’m sorry! This is all… it’s a lot! I’m so tall!” Norm was giddy with laughter, one hand still tightly gripping his gown in the back.

“As if you needed to be any taller…” Lydia mumbled. She barely reached Norm’s avatar’s waist, and it wasn’t like he wasn’t a giant as a human.

“How about we get you guys some pants, huh?” Grace said, waving them to follow her into the avatar driver long house. “You’ve both got beds and footlockers with your gear in them, so pick out what you want and then get ready for more reflex tests.”

The three women hung back outside while Jake and Norm changed behind curtained off areas in the back of the avatar cabin. Lydia’s eyes scanned the horizon, noticing the tall trees looming just beyond the barbwire covered wall. She ached to get out there, away from the concrete and soldiers and just be in nature. _Just wait one more night_, she told herself.

The reflex tests for Jake and Norm went well, or as well as can be expected. Despite his total lack of training, Jake seemed to be getting used to his avatar fairly well, running and jumping and passing every sort of test, all the while remarking that it was “way better than basic training.” Norm… well he tried. His reflexes and coordination were on point, but hurdles and the climbing wall were proving to be a challenge.

“Don’t give up, Norm, just keep at it. Being in your avatar for the first time is always different than it is in simulations.” Grace had said, patting Norm on the back. Lydia and Makoto resigned themselves to sitting on the sidelines, cheering him on.

Once it had begun to get dark out, Grace called all the avatar drivers into the cabin for lights out. Lydia and Makoto bid them all farewell, despite knowing they’d see them all in just a few minutes at dinner.

“So was that weird or what?” Makoto said as they made their way into the cafeteria.

“Definitely weird, but kind of cool, I guess. I’m glad Norm is happy.” Lydia said, pulling a tray from the stack. It was crowded tonight, the majority of scientists and techs coming in to eat, while most of the soldiers and mercs were on their way out. When she was making her way to follow Makoto, she got the feeling she was being watched. Sure enough, when she turned to look she noticed the “nice form, sweetheart” soldier coming towards her.

_Oh fuck, no c’mon, really, don’t do this, shit- _

“Hey, baby doll, what’s a girl like you doing in a place like this?” He said as he smiled at her. No, not smile, smirked.

_Oh c’mon really that pick up line? Really?_

“Getting dinner.” Lydia said, a tight-lipped smile her only other return as she turned away towards the line. She desperately tried to catch Makoto’s eye for help, but her friend was talking to Beatrice about something and neither women noticed her. Great.

“Funny, I like that. But seriously, what do you do?” She pushed her way down the line, doing her best to send a “leave me alone” signal with her body, but no such luck.

“I’m a cultural anthropologist with the Avatar Program.” She said, not even looking at him as she scooped up a pile of sad looking mashed potatoes.

“Really? I’m one of their security escorts, so it looks like we’ll be seeing more of each other around, huh? I’m Lyle, by the way.” That smirk again. Vomitus.

“Lydia.” She pointedly ignored his now outstretched hand in favor of grabbing her tray tightly and speed-walking over to the scientist tables.

She huffed a sigh and slipped in next to Makoto.

“Wainfleet wasn’t bothering you, was he?” Grace asked from across the table, eyeing the merc as he headed out the cafeteria.

“Of course he was,” Lydia said, shrugging. “But he shouldn’t be anything I can’t handle.”

“Well he’ll be with us when we go out tomorrow, but if he gives you any trouble, let me know and I’ll get the detail switched.” Grace looked at Lydia. No, she would not let that gun-toting troglodyte bother her niece. Not if she had anything to say about it.

“Thanks, Aunt Grace, but I’m sure I’ll be fine. I’m a big girl, I can handle one flirtatious douchebag.”

Grace smiled and grabbed Lydia’s hand before going back to eating. The tables’ discussions quickly fell back into its rapid pace, Lydia still trying to keep up with all the biology jargon. She looked down at Jake, who seemed to be in a decent mood at least. She guessed being able to run, and knowing that he could run again soon was doing him some measure of good.

“So can someone explain what the nerve thing on the braid is?” Jake asked, bracing himself as if he knew he might be asking a question they might think was stupid.

“Okay, okay, I wanna answer this one.” Beatrice said, leaning around to Jake. Grace opened her arms in a ‘go ahead’ gesture. “Okay so think of it like this. It’s like… it can be used to interact with the different plants and animals on Pandora. It’s… it’s a biological USB stick. You ‘plug’ it into something and you’re connected, and can exchange information with whatever you’re connected with, and vice versa. Does that make sense?”

Jake stared at her for a solid few seconds before shrugging and nodding. He still looked lost, but at least he showed some measure of curiosity.

They were just finishing up eating when another soldier, dressed in pilot fatigues came up to the table, to Jake specifically.

“Hey, you Sully?” She asked, nodding briefly to the others at the table.

“Uh, yeah, that’s me.” He said, glancing up at her, confusion marking his features.

“Great, Colonel wants to see you in the armor bay, follow me.” She nudged him in the shoulder and started walking away. Jake glanced at Grace before wheeling after her.

As the moved away, Lydia saw Grace turn and watch them, a look of suspicion on her face. It was definitely peculiar, the Colonel wanting to talk to someone in the Avatar program, because all she’d seen in her brief time there was antagonism between the soldiers and the scientists. Jake wasn’t a scientist, though, he was a Marine. But who knows, maybe that had something to do with the Colonel’s request. At least that was Lydia told herself. She could feel something going on just below the surface of the situation. But just as quickly as the feeling came, she dismissed it. It was probably nothing. Probably.

Dinner ended without much fuss, Lydia bid her aunt goodnight, with a strict reminder to get plenty of rest in preparation for their trip out tomorrow. As if it was going to be possible for her to be able to sleep at all. She felt like she was crackling with energy throughout her entire bedtime routine, brushing her teeth and bouncing on the balls of her feet while she did so.

“You’re so lucky, you know that? I’ve gotta wait another week before Robert and I can get out into the jungle to collect more arachnoid population samples.” Makoto said as they changed into their pajamas.

“I’ll let you know if I see any while I’m out there, but I’m not getting close enough to collect any sort of samples. At least where terrifying spider-scorpions are concerned.”

“Oh you’re such a baby. Just don’t get stung, it’s easy.” Makoto laughed and climbed into her bunk. “Besides we’re not actually trying to catch them, just count them, look at their markings, note their activities, where they live, and try to determine their specific niche within the Pandoran ecosystem.”

“Yeah, yeah, okay miss entomologist, I get it. I’m just going out on the off-chance the Omaticaya decide to talk to us again.”

“Uh-huh. That’s working with people and all that complex stuff. Bugs are easy. Sure they try to sting you but you can see that coming way easier than you can an arrow.” Lydia couldn’t miss the hint of worry in Makoto’s voice when she said “arrow.”

“Hey, I’ll be okay. I’ll be with Grace, they know her. Besides, they may just say ‘screw you’ and leave us alone. We won’t know until tomorrow.” She nudged the top bunk with her foot gently. “You worry too much.”

Makoto snorted and shifted in her bed. “Well excuse me for worrying about my best friend going out into an extremely hostile environment.”

“If you’re gonna worry about anyone, worry about Norm. He’s the one in the million dollar body. If he gets into any trouble it’ll be his ass out there.”

“That _is_ a scary thought. It’s going to give me nightmares. So thanks for that and goodnight.”

“Night.” Lydia said and curled up to go to sleep. A few beats of silence passed before Makoto spoke up again.

“Hey, you saw that pilot lady who came to get Jake?”

“Yeah?”

“Did you think she was cute?”

“Uhh I guess? You couldn’t really see her face, she was wearing shades.”

“I dunno, I just thought she was cute.”

“Then talk to her? Maybe she’s nice.”

“Maybe I will. Goodnight. Again.”

“Night, again.”

Lydia’s sleep was sporadic at best. She kept waking up, checking the bedside clock trying to see if she was at a respectable time to be up. 2:24 AM, 3:45 AM, 4:36 AM, the hours ticked by with no solid deep sleep. Eventually when she woke up at 6:29 AM, she quietly rolled out of bed, trying not to wake Makoto. Not like it would matter much. That girl could sleep through an earthquake.

She slipped down the hallway to the restrooms, which were thankfully less crowded than they would be in another 30 minutes. She splashed cold water on her face and tried to hype herself up for today. She’d be going out in the Pandoran jungle! This was fantastic! And totally, utterly terrifying! The reality of the situation was really hitting her now. It was amazing, but there was a very, _very_ good chance she could get…eaten by something.

She tried to ignore the shaking in her hands as she moved back to her dorm room, the hallway slowly filling with people as she went. When she slipped back into the room, Makoto was just waking up, stretching and popping her joints in the bed.

“You sleep okay?” She asked, stretching her arms above her head, her elbows popping.

“Not really. Nerves.” She asked, rifling through her dresser. She pulled out her old Harvard tank top and tugged it on.

“I don’t blame you, but like you said, you’ll be with Grace, she must know the jungle pretty well by now. And you’ll have Mr. Marine to watch your back too.” Lydia groaned in response.

“Let’s just hope he’s not a trigger-happy ‘shoot first’ guy.” She tugged on her socks while Makoto hopped down and grabbed her toiletries.

“Here’s to hoping. Be right back.” Makoto said as she walked out into the hall. Lydia was dressed and pacing around the tiny room when she got back, her curls pulled up into an unruly bun.

“C’mon, let’s go get breakfast.” Makoto said, nudging Lydia in the arm.

“So I can throw it up again?” She asked, following Makoto out the door.

“Oh come on, you’ve barely puked at all in the time I’ve known you. You’re not Norm.”

Breakfast was made of rubbery rehydrated eggs and congealed oatmeal, but the conversation was quick as usual, Grace fussing at Lydia to eat more to make sure her energy stayed up. They all met in the labs, pre-link. Lydia checked her pack, marked “O’NEILL, L.” in bold letters on the back, making sure it was full of water, ration bars, an extra set of clothing, and a medical kit. She zipped it and strapped a belt across her middle. The machete hung off her right side, and a smaller survival knife hung off her left. She tugged at the necklace hanging around her neck. An old bull shark tooth, given to her by her mother. A touristy necklace, but one from when the world still had bull sharks. The dull ridges of the tooth dug into her palm, the sensation calming. Today would go fine. Absolutely fine. She hoped.

Before she left for the hangar, she walked over to Makoto and pulled her into a hug.

“Lydia, c’mon, you’ll be fine.” Makoto said, but that didn’t stop her from returning the hug. Her voice still couldn’t hide the hint of worry it carried.

“I know, but…it never hurts.”

“Shut up, I’ll see you back for dinner tonight. Just be careful.”

“I will be. See you.” They released each other and Lydia pulled on her pack and walked through the corridors to the hangar.

Their pilot happened to be the one Makoto thought was cute, and her name was Trudy. Lydia was thinking of ways to bring up Makoto in conversation, but her attention was captured by Grace, Norm, and Jake, all in their avatars, walking towards them. And Lyle. Great.

They hopped into Trudy’s Samson, Lydia taking note of the tigers painted on the sides and the word “Maya” painted next to Trudy’s name. She was about to ask what it meant, but Lyle began speaking to her again. Ugh.

“Hey doll-face, take a seat by the door if you want a good view.” He grinned that oily grin at her again. Her skin crawled and she could feel her aunt watching Lyle like a hawk.

“Hey, Wainfleet, how about you stop thinking with your dick and get on a gun.” Trudy called from inside the cockpit. Lyle’s face flushed and he climbed inside and began prepping the gun, but not before giving Lydia another once over.

She climbed in on the opposite side of Lyle, hoping she was making a point by walking around the Samson to get in. She situated herself between Norm and Grace, feeling incredibly small compared to them.

Norm was babbling to Grace about something, and as much as Lydia wanted to pay attention, she found it hard to focus on what he was saying. She had a feeling something was going to happen today. Maybe something good, maybe something bad, she wasn’t sure. But it was going to big, whatever it was. But she kept quiet about her thoughts and instead turned her focus on to the jungle that was beginning to pass below them as Trudy lifted off and flew over the RDA’s borders.

It was so green. So many shades of green and a clear blue sky. She leaned out from between Norm and Grace and peered out the opening by Jake. There was so much color everywhere she looked. A flock of featherless, purple birds flew by them as Trudy brought the Samson low over the water. She grinned as one of them turned to look at them and squawked before shifting its position within its flock. They flew higher into the air and passed a herd of sturmbeests, the great animals looking like a mix of a bison and some kind of dinosaur.

When they finally touched down, it was in a small clearing somewhere deep in the jungle, the humid air settling over them like a blanket. Grace hopped down and motioned for Trudy to shut the Samson off. Norm helped Lydia down onto the ground and she felt free ground under her feet. Not the cultivated gardens of the RDA base, but real, untamed forest. It was amazing, overwhelming. As if in a daze she stumbled towards Grace, who looked at her and smiled.

“Pretty great, isn’t it?” She asked, the beads in her hair clacking together.

“It’s wonderful! I’ve never felt anything like this before!” She steadied herself and took several deep breaths. The effect was slightly lost from inside the exo-pack, but it served to calm her down a bit.

Lyle was about to follow them into the bush, moving around with his gun like he expected to be attacked at any second. Grace rolled her eyes.

“Wainfleet, stay here. One trigger-happy idiot with a gun is enough.” Lyle didn’t even seem to be paying attention, never even taking his eyes off the trees as he murmured back his reply.

“You got it doc…”

They walked through the thick undergrowth, Lydia having a slightly rougher time navigating the plants and roots than the avatar-drivers. Her hand gripped the machete handle, more so for security than for active threat.

“How will they know we’re here?” Norm asked, his voice just above a whisper.

“I’m sure they’re watching us right now.” Grace replied, walking up to a decrypt old wooden building. Jake whirled around with his gun, his ears perking and twitching at every little sound, probably some she couldn’t even hear. His paranoia was definitely not as interesting as the place they were approaching, though.

“Is this the old school that I heard mentioned?” Lydia asked, eyeing the building. It didn’t look remotely sound, but Grace strode up the stairs with confidence.

“It is. What’s left of it. We mostly use it for storage now.” She walked across the creaking wooden floors, nostalgia filling her voice.

“The kids were so bright, eager to learn. They picked up English faster than I could teach it.” She replaced a fallen book on the shelf. She began instructing Norm on what equipment to pick up and Lydia wandered around the building, looking at the old tables, dragging her hand across the rough wood. She felt something under her foot and bent down to pick up a book.

“_The Lorax_, Aunt Grace, really?” Lydia said, passing the book up to her aunt who smiled as she picked it up. “It’s a bit on the nose, isn’t it?”

“I suppose, but it’s one of my favorites, and the kids loved it. They thought the Lorax was funny-looking. Darn sting-bats keep knocking the books down.” She replaced it on the shelf with the other books. “I keep hoping someone will come back in and read them.”

“Why don’t they come back?” Norm asked, and Grace’s postured stiffened as she paused.

“The Omaticaya….learned as much about us as the needed too.”

Lydia’s eyes followed Jake, who was grazing his fingers over bullet holes in the chalkboard. Bullet holes in the chalkboard. Then it was true. The RDA had shot up the school.

“What happened here?” Jake asked, his voice almost soft in the quiet inside. Grace turned to him.

“Are you gonna help us with this gear or not? We’ve got a lot to do.” She moved to turn, to indicate she was done talking about it.

“Aunt Grace…please tell me what happened here.” Lydia said, standing in front of the bullet ridden board. Grace sighed and set her hands in front of her as she leaned on the table in front of her.

“Another time, Lydia, I promise. Another time.”

Lydia didn’t want to push her aunt, so she conceded. It was fairly obvious that the RDA had killed people here. How many, how old or young, and why were are still questions that floated in the back of her mind, but it was clearly upsetting to Grace, so she let it be. For now.

They left the morbid schoolhouse and walked another few miles away from it. How far, Lydia wasn’t sure. Sweat was making her clothes stick to her, and her legs were getting scratched from rough edged plants and bark. Finally their little group drew to a pause at a seemingly random root grouping on the floor.

She peered over Norm’s shoulder as he and Grace squatted to begin their analyzing and collecting. Something that was definitely fascinating, but held no personal interest for her. The scientific jargon and tech talk made her mind drift away. She was a history and culture person, not a STEM professional. She noticed Jake walking away into a grove of tall, cylindrical plants. Curious, she followed him.

Most of the plants were almost as tall as Jake, but the second his curious finger reached out to touch one of them, the plant condensed into itself and drew down with a “shwoop” sound. He jumped back a little before looking down at her and smiling. Immediately he touched another one, getting the same exact result.

“C’mon don’t play with them too much, you’ll trigger some kind of mass reaction.” No sooner had she said that than he touched another one, too close to another. In under a second every plant in the grove sucked down and revealed them to the rest of the jungle. Including the hammerhead titanothere in front of them.

She and Jake took an instinctual step back, and he hefted his gun to the pissed off bull.

“Don’t shoot, I repeat do not shoot.” Grace’s voice came over the com-collar Jake wore. “You’ll only piss him off.” Lydia’s eyes shifted from the bull to her aunt, who had one arm pushing Norm back and another almost reaching out to her.

“He’s already pissed off!” Jake hissed back.

“Jake trust me, that armor is too thick. It’s a territorial threat display, just hold your ground. Don’t run or he’ll charge.”

Jake paused, his arms twitching before thrusting his gun down with a grunt. The titanothere didn’t seem to care about his submission and threw its massive hammerhead down to charge.

Lydia was about to jump in the other direction but her body froze when she saw Jake. Jake charging the bull back, screaming his head off. He waved his arms, going with the old ‘make yourself look bigger’ approach. She watched and waited for him to be trampled, but he and the bull both stopped just shy of each other, and it actually turned tail and ran back to its herd.

It worked. That idiot. It actually worked.

“Yeah, that’s right! That’s what I thought! Go on and get your punk ass back to mommy, uh huh! Bitch!” Jake cheered as he backed up. Unbelievable. This man was actually trash-talking an animal.

“Hey are you stupid?” Lydia asked, but the relieved laughter bubbling out of her made it sound less snappy. The relief was short-lived, because then the air shifted and every one of Lydia’s hairs stood up. Something deep and instinctual told her something was wrong.

She watched the titanotheres group together and she saw a massive shadow pass over her head. She felt the ground shake as the shadow landed. A massive creature, like an armored panther growled and paced in front of the titanotheres. They bellowed and blew up their colorful fans.

The air tensed when the creature, the thanator, turned and looked at them. At Lydia and Jake.

“What about this one?! Run, don’t run?!” Jake asked, his ears flat against his skull.

“Run, definitely run!” Grace shouted.

Lydia didn’t need to be told twice. Every ancient piece of instinct in her body propelled her away from the thanator as she shot off. She registered Jake moving away, Grace screaming her name, and the thanator moving after them.

Fight had worked on the titanothere, but flight was the only option for the thanator. The apex predator on Pandora. She ran as fast as her legs would carry her and she disappeared into the jungle undergrowth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, thanks for your patience! This chapters song title is "Wildflowers" by the Wailin' Jennys!


	4. Way Out There

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, thanks for your patience and positive comments! For this chapter I chose "Way Out There" by Lord Huron!  
Italicized dialogue is in Na'vi!

Some sort of primordial survival instinct drove Lydia onwards into the forest. She wasn’t even sure if the thanator was chasing her, not to mention where Jake and the others were. She just knew she had to run far and run fast. Branches and roots tore at her legs as she sprinted deeper into the jungle. She felt her pack catch on something and she shrieked, certain the beast had caught up to her. When she wasn’t pulled into a massive set of jaws, she pressed on even harder, weaving a path through the undergrowth.

Eventually she regained enough control over her mind that she realized that the thantor was not chasing her. She slowed to a jog and came to a stop beside one of the millions of massive trees that made up Pandora’s jungles. As she stood there panting, she realized she had no idea how long she had been running, or how far she had gone, not to mention which direction she’d come from.

She rested against the trunk, though not before making sure it was free of creatures. She was breathing hard, her breath fogging up her mask. She couldn’t stay here. But wasn’t that the rule when you were lost? _Stay put and someone will find you. _

Resting her head against the trunk, she looked up into the branches above her. Sunlight shone down through the branches, bathing her in a green light. She needed to think of what to do next. She needed to not think of Grace or Makoto or Norm. She would see them again. She needed to concentrate.

Staying on the jungle floor was an absolute no-go. Any number of predators prowled the jungle floor during the day, not to mention the night that was quickly approaching. The branches might provide some sort of cover, at least from whatever hunted on the ground. She didn’t even want to think about what might make the tree canopies its home.

She tightened her pack around herself and grabbed the lowest branch. Then she hefted herself up and slowly, slowly, made her way closer to the branch she’d set her eye on. It was about 40 feet off the ground and plenty thick in diameter. She moved at a sloths pace, taking care of where she put her hands and feet. She grit her teeth against the pain in her hands, her fingers nowhere used to this kind of abuse, and she could feel the bark beginning to cut into her skin. A steady stream of mumbled encouragements and curses came from her as she pushed onwards.

“C’mon Lydia c’mon girl you can do this. Oh fuck this, c’mon, UGH, c’mon just a little more just a little more…” She grunted as she felt her fingers cramp, the branch just another 10 or so feet above her.

With every last bit of energy and willpower she pushed herself up and up, and finally her hand gripped the massive branch, locking around a knoll in the wood. She gave one last push and hefted herself up onto the mossy pad of the branch.

Step One: Climb tree. Completed.

Step Two: Check self for injuries.

She held her abused hands out in front of her, covered now in dirt, little bits of bark, and blood. She had water in her pack, but there was no telling when she’d find fresh water again. She settled for gently wiping her hands off with a bit of moss from the tree. It didn’t really make a difference, but at least she tried. Her legs were about the same, not just from climbing the tree but from her jungle run earlier. They were all cut up, but most of the cuts looked superficial, at least to her untrained eye. That didn’t mean they couldn’t get infected, though. Hopefully she wouldn’t be here long enough for that to happen.

Step Three: Sort through pack for supplies.

She pulled her backpack around and went to unzip it. That was when she realized how badly her hands were shaking. She flexed her fingers and winced at the pain the action brought. Her legs too, were like jelly. _Don’t think about it right now. _She gingerly unzipped her pack, careful to mind her raw fingers. She sorted through her things until she pulled out the canteen. Her shaking hands made drinking difficult, and she spilt almost as much as she got in her mouth. Not good.

Next she fished out her medical kit. The disinfectant bottle sat inside with a little rag for application. She started with her legs, wincing as the medicine touched the cuts. It wasn’t nearly as bad as applying it to her hands though. She had to bite her lip to keep from crying out as the disinfectant sloshed onto her palms. Lydia sat with her head back and eyes squeezed shut as she held her palms out to dry. The burning eventually dissolved away into a dull sensation and she wrapped her hands in the provided bandages before repacking her bag. She realized she should probably eat, but didn’t feel like wasting her food supplies just yet, just in case.

Step Four: Wait.

And that’s what she did. She pulled her shaking knees in to herself and wrapped her arms around her pack, her chin resting on the top of it.

“This is fantastic. This is really fantastic. I come here and get lost in the forest on the third day. This is just typical. Just _fucking_ typical. Now I’m stuck in this big ass tree talking to myself. I look like a total idiot.” She put her face down in her bag, though the effect was less soothing on account of the exo-pack. She sat that way for a while before some distant noise forced her to raise her head. She looked around, but saw no immediate threat. What she did see blew her breath away.

The forest was glowing. Blue, green, purple, pink, it all lit up around her. Even the moss she sat on was glowing a brighter shade of teal. When she moved, the bioluminescence responded, fading out and lighting up where she pressed. The plants that hung around her were also lit up, their light illuminating the area around her. In fact, the plants produced so much light that the forest was barely dark. The night glowed purple around her as the nighttime rituals of the world began.

Large, magenta fan plants dangled down at different levels around her, their tendrils flowing down into bright stems buzzing with insects. She stared at them, her mouth open in wonder. Everywhere she looked there was some new plant-life, its glow bright and almost reassuring. She wanted to reach out and touch something, but fear held her back. Memories of learning about deep sea creatures with bioluminescent lures that trapped their prey in their jaws kept her rooted to her spot on the branch. _Look, but don’t touch._

“At least I’ll die someplace pretty.” Lydia laughed to herself. Her hopes for surviving the night were dwindling. If a thanator attacked her during the day, she couldn’t imagine what would come for her at night. She pulled out the machete on her hip, and gripped it in her still tender hands. Well, if something was going to come after her, at least she could go down fighting.

She rearranged her position, crossing her trembling legs and stretched out her sore arms. If she made it to morning, she’d have one great story to tell. Surviving a night on Pandora, alone and without a gun would give her some sort of credit around the base, or at least she hoped it would.

Her eyes twitched with every movement she picked up in the brush, her ears attuned to the small sounds around her. Some animal far away was bellowing, something else was chirping, there was a squawk somewhere above her. It might make for a nice sleep ambiance recording, if her life wasn’t in mortal peril.

She was so concentrated on observing and listening that she almost missed the white glow coming from above her. Lydia startled, but quickly regained her composure one she saw what was floating down to her. She recognized these little things, she’d seen pictures of them in Grace’s data-pad she’d given her. Small, white seedlings, sacred to the Na’vi.

“Hello there.” She said as five seeds drifted down around her. “I’ve heard of you. You’re called _atokirina_ aren’t you? Sacred seeds.” The glowing white seeds reminded her of dandelion seeds as they settled around her, on her bruised knees and tired shoulders. Their glow was calming, reassuring.

“Well you’re very nice to visit me. I hope I’m not intruding. Geez, look at me, I’m talking to seeds, I must be losing my mind.” She raised the hand the atokirina had landed on and lifted it close to her face. “_I can speak Na’vi too, maybe you’ll understand that better. Assuming you can hear me at all._” Maybe she was just tired, but she could’ve sworn the little seed brightened its glow.

The group of atokirina lingered for a only a few seconds more before they all lifted off simultaneously, as if they were picked up by a breeze. Lydia watched them float up and away, disappearing between the glowing branches.

They left her with a calm, serene feeling. Maybe she’d make it through this night. Maybe if she just stayed still and quiet, the jungle would ignore and let her live until morning. She took a deep breath to center herself and began listening to the sounds of the forest at night again.

Lydia was paying attention to some distant snuffling sound when she heard something she was absolutely not expecting to hear. A voice.

“_Who are you, and why are you here?_” A male voice said in Na’vi, somewhere in the trees around Lydia. She let out a cry of surprise and jumped up onto her feet.

“_Who’s there?! Who are you?!_” Lydia shouted and backed herself up against the tree trunk. She held the machete close to her chest.

“_I asked you first.” _The voice called back. Lydia had no idea where he was, and her eyes darted around looking for whoever was talking to her.

“_Do you mean why I’m here in this tree or why I’m here on this world? Because those are two very different answers.” _

“_Why are you here and not with the other Sky People?” _The voice demanded. Whoever he was, he was starting to sound irritated.

“_I got lost. I was chased. By a palulukan. Or I thought I was getting chased by one. It ran after someone else.”_

“_You left a very obvious trail._” The voice was getting snide now, and Lydia crossed her arms.

_“Well I was running for my life, I wasn’t concerned about being subtle. But yes, I came here by accident. I don’t want to upset anything or anyone.” _

“_It is too late for that._” Lydia noticed movement in the limbs of a tree above and across from her. A Na’vi appeared out of the canopy and gracefully dropped down to stand on the limb of a tree just across from hers. His bow was casually lowered in front of him, an arrow knocked and ready.

Lydia lowered her machete and slipped it back into its sheath. She held her hands out to show that she was unarmed, and leaned back up against the tree. She tracked him with her eyes and he did the same to her. A beat of silence passed before he spoke again.

“_You know what the atokirina are?_” He moved several steps closer, each step deliberate and measured.

“_Yes, I’d heard about them from my aunt, Dr. Augustine._” That gave him pause, his eyes narrowing as he looked her over.

“_You are related to Grace Augustine?_”

“_Yes, she’s my mother’s sister._” Several beats of silence passed before he took another step closer to her.

“_You will come with me._”

Lydia looked up at him in surprise. “_I will?_”

“_Yes. You need to speak to the Tsahik._”

The Tsahik! The spiritual leader of a clan! But that meant she would have to go to Hometree. Which meant she would have to get out of this tree.

“_I’m…I’m more than willing to speak to her, but I’m…sort of stuck in the tree._” He shot her a condescending look.

_“You managed to get up there, you can get down._”

“_Easy for you to say. I’m not really a climber_.”

“_Try_.” The word came out as a command, in the tone of someone used to issuing orders.

“_Fine._” She bit back. She hefted her pack on and tightened it around her. Casting one last look over her shoulder at his disdainful face, she lowered herself to begin her descent.

Her hands and legs screamed in protest at every movement. Lydia bit her lip to hold back a whimper as her raw fingers scraped against the wood. As far as first impressions go, she was sure she wasn’t making a good one, and she wasn’t about to make it worse by crying as she climbed down the tree.

The impatience rolling off him was palpable, and did absolutely nothing to help Lydia’s climb. She was about half-way down when she heard him huff.

“_You realize this is pathetic?_”

She grit her teeth as her bleeding fingers gripped the bark. “_You realize I’ve never climbed a tree before?_”

“_It is a wonder you or your people have managed to survive when you cannot even climb._”

Lydia thought about telling him that actually there were many humans who could climb, but the screaming in her joints and her trembling muscles drew her focus away from any sort of curt retort.

She was only about 15 feet above the ground when her abused hands decided it was no longer possible to continue this descent. With a mix of a shriek and a grunt, her feet slipped and she went plummeting to the jungle floor.

The sickening feel of falling jolted her stomach up into her throat as she came crashing down onto the ground. Her back collided with the dirt and foliage, forcing all the air out of her lungs in a rush. She lay there gasping for several seconds as she registered fresh pain in her left shoulder. A whine escaped her as she sat up, her good arm grasping the damaged one.

“Ow…” She grumbled out loud as she turned to look at her shoulder, and her arm hanging limply below it. Great.

Lydia heard the sound of what must have been a much gentler landing than hers a few feet away. She turned and looked up and up until she met the hard and critical eyes of the man she’d been talking with.

“_Thanks for helping me down_.” She grimaced in pain as she stood up, clutching her arm tightly.

“_You were not even that high up. You should not have needed help_.”

She rolled her eyes as she tried to flex her injured arm, a useless venture as pain immediately shot up the limb. Another whimper escaped her as she stumbled back from the shock.

“_I think my shoulder is out of its joint_…”

“_It will be dealt with later. Give me your knives._” He held his hand out to her expectantly, distrust marking his features.

“_You don’t let up, do you?_” She grumbled as her good hand struggled to undo the belt holding both the sheathed machete and survival knife. She unbuckled the clasp after several seconds of struggling and held up the belt to him like a peace offering. He wasted no time in taking it from her, slinging the strap over his shoulder.

“_Go_.” He gave her a light push on her back as he began walking across the jungle floor, the lichen and moss lighting up where he stepped. Lydia found herself jogging to keep up with his long gait, though he seemed not to care in the slightest. For every one of his steps, she took at least three on her already weary legs. Add in the roots and vines that crisscrossed the forest floor, and she wasn’t having the best time.

“_Exactly how far away is Hometree?_” She heaved out between gasping breaths.

“_Not far. Though we would reach it faster if you were not so slow._”

“Well excuuuse me for being short…” Lydia grumbled to herself as she once again tried to adjust her pace to match his. It wasn’t her fault she was already short for a human, not to mention a Na’vi.

The farther they went, the more her legs ached with the effort. She was shaking from the strain and nearly lost her footing over roots several times. Each time she tripped or stumbled she could feel her guide’s irritation build. It was when she actually tripped and fell face first into the brush that he snapped.

“_Can you not do anything well?_” He hissed, grabbing her by the wrist to pull her up. She grimaced up at him and pulled her wrist free as she backed up. Propping herself up on her toes she faced him. 

“_I have had a very long and difficult day. I have NO idea where my aunt or my friend is, I spent most of the day running away and hiding in a very hard to climb tree, then climbing out of that tree, then FALLING out of it, then running more with someone twice my size who I think is very close to just killing me so I’m sorry if I’m not meeting your expectations!_” A scowl crossed his face and he bent down to her level, his ears pressing flat to his head in annoyance.

“_You and the rest of the Sky People come here and go where you should not, and then behave like children when you find yourselves challenged! Now try to remain on your feet long enough for the Tsahik and the Olo’eyktan to make a decision about you._” And with that he turned around sharply and resumed his trek back to Hometree. Lydia groaned and gripped her injured arm tighter as she jogged to catch up to him.

Thankfully, it wasn’t long before she spotted the gargantuan tree that had to be the home of the Omaticaya. The tree loomed over the rest of the jungle, lights shining out from within its trunk and branches. As they approached, Lydia could hear the distant sounds of voices and music, the village within the tree coming to life with the night. They began to cross a natural root bridge, the path illuminated by the bioluminescent flora coating it. Polyphemus hung in the sky above them, its massive stormy eye peering down at them. Water rushed below the bridge, dark and swirling and filled with eerily glowing plant life.

Lydia couldn’t help but pause to look out across the horizon and the waterfall pouring in the distance, light illuminating it from within and above. She’d never seen anything quite like this on Earth. Maybe it’d been like this once, but now it was mostly concrete and neon, the artificial lights of the city dimming in comparison to the natural light of this place. She was so caught up in trying to absorb the beauty of this scene that she didn’t even realize her guide had stopped as well.

When she finally managed to pull her eyes away from the natural beauty, she turned and saw him staring at her, his face unreadable. He said nothing when he moved to continue walking, only nodding his head to the side to gesture that she continue following. Almost reluctant to leave the vista, she took one last look at the valley before following him across the bridge and onto the pathway that lead to Hometree. Whatever was about to happen in there, it was going to change her life permanently, one way or the other. 


	5. The Storm

The lights of Hometree were warm and welcoming, or at least Lydia imagined them to be. The massive root archway that she was lead into was bigger than some of the buildings she had seen back on earth. Fires and glowing lanterns cast soft light into the tree’s entryway, and together she and the man crossed the threshold into the vestibule of the tree.

On all sides stood massive natural columns, as if the tree itself had been sculpted by some unseen hand. Entering into the trunk felt like walking into a cathedral, the walls massive and ornate with patterns and stories Lydia could only hope to one day know. 

She had never felt smaller than when she walked in. On all sides stood people twice her size, or even taller. The atmosphere became physically tenser when she entered and it seemed like hundreds of eyes turned down to look at her. She could hear whispers from all sides as she was crowded by the people who called this tree their home.

“_Who is this one now?_”

“_Another one? She’s so small. It is a she, don’t you think?_”

“_Why is Tsu’tey bringing her here?_”

“_What will the Olo’Eyktan think of this?_”

People peered down at her from all angles, some avoiding her while others got close enough to nearly touch her. She gripped her injured arm closer to her as that old feeling of nervousness resurfaced just as it had in the RDA’s OPS center. She tried to stick to the man leading her, the one she gathered was named “Tsu’tey.” The crowd eventually gave way to a large, open area. She could hear a man’s voice talking, but he was impossible to see at her height. As they drew closer, she began to make out what he was saying.

“_This creature, why do you bring him here?_”

“_I was going to kill him, but there was a sign.” _A feminine voice replied to the man’s. As they finally came to the clearing, Lydia saw what they were discussing.

Standing there, torn and bloodied, was Jake Sully. So he’d managed to escape the thanator, and was now in the same boat she was. Great.

Whatever the man was about to say seemed to fall into open air as his eyes landed on Lydia. She instantly felt even smaller under his gaze, but she found herself being lightly shoved forward by a hand on her backpack.

“_My daughter brings an alien dreamwalker here, only for you, Tsu’tey, to bring another Sky Person to our home. Have the both of you forgotten what has happened to us?_”

Tsu’tey stepped forward, inclining his head to the man, whose ornate dressings became more evident to Lydia as she got her first clear look at him. The broad, colorful pauldrons cloaked his shoulders and he wore an equally complex, yet beautiful, necklace. He was an older man, evidence of a long life of leadership. The clan’s _Olo’eyktan_.

“_It is as Neytiri says, there was a sign. Otherwise, I would have never allowed her here._” He stepped away towards the _Olo’eyktan_, leaving Lydia feeling all the more vulnerable under the leader’s gaze, along with the hundreds of people surrounding her. The one shred of comfort was that the focus was not entirely on her, but also on Jake. He turned to her with a relieved look, edging a little closer.

“Glad to see you made it too. You know what they’re saying?”

“Shh.” Lydia hushed him quickly, leaning in to try and listen to the _Olo’eyktan_.

“_I have said that no dream-walker, let alone a Sky Person will come here. Their alien smell fills my nose._” Bits of laughter followed his statement and Jake looked at Lydia in bewilderment.

“What’d he say?” Jake’s eyes darted between the leader and Lydia.

“He said you smell bad.” Lydia glared up at him. “Now be quiet and listen.” Lydia could’ve sworn she saw Tsu’tey give the smallest quirk of his mouth, but she couldn’t be sure.

The woman, Neytiri, who was speaking to the leader stepped over and inclined her head towards Jake, sparing Lydia only a quick glance.

“My father is deciding if he will kill you.” Jake’s ears perked up at that.

“Your father? It’s nice to meet you sir-” He held his hand out and stepped forward before Lydia could stop him. The crowd around them surged forward, weapons pointed at Jake with a hiss. Even Neytiri hissed at him, shoving his hand down and away.

“Hey quick question, Jake. Were you dropped on your head as a baby or are you just like this?” Lydia grumbled at him as she pulled his wrist back even further.

“What?! All I did was try to be nice!”

Lydia didn’t have a chance to respond as a woman’s voice echoed across the clearing.

“_Step back! I will look at these aliens myself_.” An older woman dressed in a gorgeous woven and beaded red poncho gracefully descended the natural wood stairs, her look just as ornate and beautiful as the _Olo’eyktan’s_. Then that must mean…

“That is mother. She is _Tsahik_.” The young woman, the daughter of the pair spoke lowly as she eyed Jake out of the corner of her eye.

The _Tsahik_ strode over to them, her eyes roving across Jake’s avatar, running her hands across his queue and tail, a test of his realness. With Lydia she merely looked, her eyes taking in the frizzing hair, dirty clothes and scraped limbs.

“What are you called?” The _Tsahik_ asked Lydia, inclining her head only a little to make up for the height difference.

“My name is Lydia, _Tsahik_. My family’s clan was the O’Neill clan. I am the daughter of Grace Augustine’s sister.”

The Matriarch hummed in response, her eyes searching for the resemblance.

“Are you a scientist, like her?” She questioned, beads and jewelry clacking with her movement.

“No. I study people and culture, not plants and animals. I watch and learn.”

“Many Sky People have already tried to learn, but it is hard to fill a cup that is already full.”

“I have a big cup. Learning is what I do, it’s what gives me joy. Please, I just want to make a peaceful connection, a bridge, between us.”

“Why are you not a Dream-walker, like this one?” She gestured her hand at Jake, who only shuffled uncomfortably, his hands twitching.

“Because that is not what I am. I’m human. To try to be anything else other than what I am would be…wrong. I can’t pretend like that. This is who I am. I mean, if aliens landed on my world and tried to look like us, but you could see they were different, I wouldn’t like it. I’d much rather people just…be who they are.” She shrugged, wincing at the pain in her shoulder. The _Tsahik_ only blinked slowly before nodding her head and walking over to Jake, her tail swishing languidly behind her.

“And you, what are you called?”

“My name is Jake Sully.”

“And what is it that you do?”

“I was a warrior from…from the Jar-Head clan?”

Lydia gaped open-mouthed at him. Before she could say anything about the name he’d just made up, she saw Tsu’tey tighten his grip on his bow and move.

“_A warrior? I could defeat him easily!”_ Tsu’tey moved forward, his posture ready to strike, but the _Olo’eyktan _stuck his arm out to stop him. Lydia’s eyebrows raised, making the connection that Tsu’tey, spoke English. Jakes’ eyes darted across the both of them, nervous energy radiating off him.

“Why have you come to us?” The matriarch asked, her voice echoing across the now silent crowds.

“I…also came to learn. And my cup is empty, just ask Dr. Augustine.” He forced his tone to be light as he looked around at the surrounding Na’vi.

“_This is the first warrior Dream-walker we have seen. We need to know more about him and the other Sky People’s warriors._” The patriarch declared, looking down at Jake with an unreadable face. A murmur went up from the crowd, despite the _Tsahik’s_ nodding. She approached Neytiri, her posture commanding.

“_My daughter, you will be responsible for teaching this Dream-walker our ways._”

“_Why me?! That’s not fair!_” The young woman complained, only for her mother to raise her hand and declare “_Enough!_”

“You may stay with us, but learn well Jake Sully, and we will see if your insanity can be cured.” The _Tsahik’s_ tone was final and Jake only nodded and lowered his eyes, suspicion still radiating off him.

“_And you, Tsu’tey. You will be responsible for helping this small Sky Person learn about us, as she claims she wants too._” He stared at the leader in shock, quickly shaking his head.

“_But Tsahik I have the hunters to consider! I cannot spend my days watching over this stumbling infant!”_

“_I have made my decision, and will hear no more of your complaints. If she desires to build a bridge between ourselves and the Sky People, we will entertain this idea. She will stay in Grace Augustine’s former home._”

“_Yes, Tsahik._” He respectfully inclined his head before glaring at Lydia.

The crowd around them slowly dispersed up and around into the tree, looks ranging from curiosity to hostility were given to Lydia and Jake. She watched as the woman grabbed Jake’s arm and tugged him away, Jake seeming to find no problem with the arrangement as he flashed Lydia a grin. She rolled her eyes and shook her head, turning around to see Tsu’tey still glowering at her.

“So…You speak English then?” Lydia asked, giving him a hopeful smile. He snorted and stalked towards her.

“When I want to. Which I often do not.” He looked down at her arm, still firmly gripped by her other hand. “Lay down. I will fix your arm.”

“Oh, uh, okay.” Lydia eased herself down onto the pressed dirt, careful to mind her shoulder as she slid her pack off. “Now what?”

He didn’t answer, only lowered himself enough to take hold of her arm and adjust himself to pop her shoulder back into its socket.

“This will hurt.” He gave her no other warning as he tightened his grip. In one quick movement her shoulder was back in its place and Lydia gave a shout with the pain.

“Oh you weren’t kidding…” Lydia rubbed her shoulder and gave her arm a few experimental swings, he pain still lingering. “So looks like you’re stuck with me, huh?”

“Don’t remind me. Now follow.” He clipped shortly and began to walk away towards the outer part of the tree. Scrambling to her feet, Lydia grabbed her pack and jogged after him, his steps once again dwarfing hers.

They walked in silence, irritation radiating off Tsu’tey’s tense posture, his tail lashing the air with aggravation. Lydia took the time to take in as much of the Hometree as she could see, eyes roaming over the columns and corridors of the massive trunk. Blue-glowing lanterns were dotted about the tree, their glow creating an eerie, yet beautiful light across the shadowy bark. Her fingers drifted up to her necklace, rubbing the ridges of the tooth.

When they passed back out across the threshold of the tree, Lydia saw a long metallic trailer covered in dents and vines. This must be Grace’s old base, then. The closer they got, the more decrepit the outside of the trailer became. Finally, when the lights of the tree were just within sight, reflecting dimly off the trailer side, they stopped.

“Is it still working…?” Lydia asked, cautiously approaching the door, her eyes roving over the darkened sides of the trailer.

“I don’t know. No one comes near it anymore.” He looked away from it and her, turning his attention instead to an insect crawling up the side of the tree, seemingly ignoring her.

“Okayyy, guess I’ll go see then.” Lydia hopped up the steps of the building and turned the door handle. It resisted at first and she pushed her right shoulder into the door, shoving it open. Much to her relief, she heard the low hiss of the oxygen filter, indicating the trailer was still producing viable air. She pressed the necessary key switches and then opened the second door into the trailer’s interior.

The inside was dark and messy, as if someone had left without being able to come back. Data readings were left all scattered on tables, various pieces of equipment were out and looked ready to use, despite the amount of time that must’ve passed since Grace was here. Slowly, Lydia took off her mask and inhaled. The air was stale, yet breathable. She felt flooded with relief, knowing she had a place to breath without the exo-pack.

It became clear that the trailer would require a good deal of upkeep to get it livable again. Air filters, water filters, sewage management, and electric power would all to be checked and monitored if she was to stay in this trailer.

She took a deep breath and propped herself up on a table, leaning back and closing her eyes. They were letting her stay here. The _Tsahik_ would allow her to stay and learn, hopefully allowing for improved human and Na’vi relations. Maybe things could get better.

Pushing herself up, she meant to begin the preparations for living here. She had just walked over to the water tank controls when she heard Tsu’tey’s voice from outside.

“You are going to come to the evening meal, since you want to ‘learn.’” He was peering in at her through one of the trailers windows, his eyes briefly searching over the inside of the space.

“Oh, uhm, alright.” Lydia turned back around and just managed to catch a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Her hair was a frizzed mess, the curls springing out and caught with bark and pieces of plant matter. Red indentations lined her face where her mask had been, and her eyes had deep circles under them. _Oh well_, she thought, _I’ll deal with it later. _

She readjusted the mask on her face and went to leave, but she paused at the door. Glancing down at her dirt-caked boots, she decided to take them off. After all, no one here wore shoes.

Her hands, still raw and sore, clumsily undid her laces and pulled the boots off. Briefly, her mind flashed back to the shuttle where Makoto helped her get these same boots on. It felt like a lifetime ago, despite it only being a couple of days. She squeezed her eyes shut against the memory, tears threatening to spill over. _Not now, she’s fine, you’re fine. You’ll see her again._ She took her socks off and wiggled her toes, rotated her ankles, and rubbed circulation back into her feet.

Cautiously, she re-opened the doors to the outside and padded down the steps and onto the fresh dirt. She shifted her toes through it, relishing the feeling of it on her feet, a totally new and foreign sensation for her. A grin spread across her face while she stood there, and soon a giggle bubbled up. She glanced up and looked at Tsu’tey, who stared at her with an absolute baffled expression on his face.

“Sorry, I’ve just never…really felt dirt before?” His brow furrowed even more and he shook his head.

They started their walk back to the tree, Lydia’s head remaining on a swivel, her eyes roaming over every plant, every darkened corner of the forest. Despite the relatively short walk to Hometree, Lydia didn’t feel at ease on the path until she stepped under the root archway of the tree. In the warm glow of fires and lanterns, she felt safe from whatever prowled in the jungle at night.

The formerly crowded gathering place was now all but deserted, allowing Lydia to take in the real size and scale of the base off the tree. It had an almost eerie feeling, like an empty theatre, but she had little time to consider this as Tsu’tey kept on with his long strides towards the tree’s natural stairway.

The path up the trunk seemed to be worn from thousands of years of use, the wood smooth to the touch on Lydia’s bare feet. As they climbed she trailed her hand along the bark, going from smooth to alive, growing wood. The change was a tactile sensation like nothing she’d ever felt and the climb alone seemed to invigorate her. Or at least, it invigorated her mind. Her sore legs still protested with every upward step.

The winding stairway eventually lead them up to a sort of platform built around one of the tree’s low, thick limbs. Winding branches and off-shoots of the tree formed a broad seating area, with a fire burning strong in the center. When they stepped up, hundreds of pairs of eyes turned their way and conversation hushed. She heard footsteps behind her and turned just in time to see Jake emerge with Neytiri. He stepped into the silent gathering, one hand awkwardly trying to adjust the loincloth he now wore.

Lydia’s eyes shifted between him and the group, unsure of what to do. Tsu’tey wasn’t moving, only staring at Jake with a scowl. Jake stepped forward and waved his hand and followed Neytiri through the crowd.

“Hey, how’s it going? Don’t get up.” He tried to make his tone light, a smile on his face as he picked his way through the crowd. Tsu’tey began to walk away and Lydia turned to follow. She watched her feet carefully, quickly trying to avoid stepping on any one of the dozens of swishing tails. She heard a hiss and a smack a few paces away and a mumbled “Sorry…” indicating that Jake wasn’t doing as well in the tail avoidance as she was.

When there were no more tails to dodge, she looked up at the main meal area. Surrounding the fire were slabs of rock, each stacked with different kinds of meat. Large flat leaves bigger than her head were stacked by the slabs sides, a type of plate. Stone and clay bowls were filled with different parts of plants or insects. This was a full Pandora buffet, and Lydia had to admit it all looked appetizing. Internally, she bemoaned her inability to consume anything that was laid out in front of her.

While Jake and the woman sat down across from the fire, Tsu’tey led Lydia next to the _Olo’eyktan_ and the _Tsahik_. Her heart jumped into her throat at being this close the clan leaders, and she looked away as she sat next to Tsu’tey.

Lydia glanced around at the surrounding clan while Tsu’tey prepared himself a plate. She caught the eye of more than one adult, and multiple children. They stared at her and giggled, hiding behind their parents and peeking around. She smiled at them, hoping to give off a friendly vibe.

Tsu’tey sat back down beside her, his plate full of chunks of meat and the cooked grubs. Lydia found herself looking closely at the food, studying every detail. The marbling in the meat, the rings around the grubs’ fat bodies. She couldn’t help but wonder about how the meat might be different from beef, what nutritional value the grubs carried… it was all so new and interesting.

She tore her eyes away from the food and began looking at the tree structure around them. Turning away so quickly, she missed the odd look Tsu’tey was given her, confusion clear on his face. Instead, Lydia’s head moved on a constant swivel, eyes darting from person to tree to fire to decorations. She caught the eye of Jake, sitting across the fire with the woman.

“Ney-tir-i? It’s nice to meet you, Neytiri, it’s nice.” Jake smiled brightly at her before digging into his plate. Lydia rolled her eyes and looked over again at Tsu’tey, who was glowering at Jake. Frowning, he turned to the _Tsahik _and the _Olo’eyktan_.

“_These aliens try to look like people…but they can’t_.” He said, shaking his head and looking back over at Jake.

“_He seems dim to me… and his eyes are too small._” The _Tsahik _mumbled in aside to her partner and to Tsu’tey. Lydia couldn’t help but overhear and let out a small snort, drawing another irritated look from Tsu’tey.

“_I’m sorry, but the warriors Jake comes from, _Jar-Heads_…they are known as being the stupidest out of his homes warriors._” That actually drew a smirk out of him as he looked at Jake, currently trying to make small talk over the little grubs he was eating.

“What are these called?” Lydia asked, pointing to the grubs. “And what does the meat come from?”

“_Teylu_. Beetle larvae. And the meat is _Yerik_, hexapede.” He took another cubed piece of the meat and popped it into his mouth.

“How is it cooked? And cut up? And what kind of spices are used on it? What’s done with the leftovers?” She asked, the questions tumbling out of her mouth.

“You ask too many questions.” His reply was curt and he stood up sharply. Lydia hopped to her feet quickly.

“Well that’s what I’m here for. I love asking questions.” She followed close behind him, narrowly missing his tail smacking her head.

“_Well find someone else to ask._” They began their descent back down the tree’s natural stairs, Lydia doing her best to step quickly to keep up.

“_But the Tsahik said you were supposed to help me!_”

Tsu’tey didn’t reply and quickened his pace down the remainder of the tree. They continued in tense, brooding silence to the edge of the tree.

“_Listen, I know you don’t like this…arrangement, but maybe if we tried to help each other…_” Lydia smiled at him, her shoulders pinched up and her hands out. He turned a whirled on her.

“_I do not want to help you! I do not know why the Tsahik is allowing you to stay! I will respect her, and her decision, but do not pester me with endless questions!_’ He had bent down to her level, a snarl on his face and his eyes hard. Lydia propped herself up on her tiptoes to meet him closer.

“_I get that you don’t like me, okay? I understand that. You’ve seen what humans have done to this place, but believe me when I say I hate what they’re doing too. I just want us to understand one another, even if we don’t get along._” He leaned back and huffed, crossing his arms.

“_I will try to help with what I can, but I have many other duties to attend to. Stay out from under my feet and watch yourself_.”

“_Fair enough_.” Lydia turned and looked out at the trailer, still gleaming dimly in Pandora’s glowing night.

They stood there in awkward silence, neither moving, both analyzing the other. The seconds dragged on and Lydia found herself rocking on her heels.

“Soooo…. Is it safe?” His brows furrowed and he blinked in confusion.

“Is what safe?”

“The path from here to the trailer. Is it safe? Nothing’s going to like…grab me?” Tsu’tey grinned at her, his eyes lit up in dark delight.

“Not if you run fast enough.” He turned and walked away, leaving her on the edge of the tree’s threshold. Lydia stared open-mouthed at him as he walked away.

“Oh fuck you…” Lydia mumbled and turned to stare at the darkened path. Refusing to actually run, she speed-walked to the trailer door, her anxiety prickling up as she tried to listen for sounds in the darkness. She all but threw herself into the trailer’s airlock, slamming and locking the door behind her.

She stepped into the darkened trailer and pulled her mask off. Standing alone in the dark she realized how tired she was, how much her whole body ached. Still, she began to examine the different maintenance panels and systems within the trailer, flipping switches and toggling them to get the results she wanted. A solar panel array on the roof provided power to the trailer’s functions, and was luckily getting enough light to start producing energy. Next she dealt with the mobile water filtration system, adding in the necessary components to the tank that collected rainwater. Finally, she looked at the old air filters in the trailer vents and replaced them with new ones stored on-site.

When all of that was done, she found the trailer’s computers and sat down at the desk. Pressing the power button, she watched as the computer kicked to life, its processor whirring and wheezing. When the home screen of the computer loaded, Lydia couldn’t help but gasp a little.

The photo was one of Grace, standing with a group of her students. She recognized the woman, Neytiri, who had found Jake, another young woman who looked like her, and several other children who she didn’t recognize. It was such a sweet picture, Grace grinning in her avatar with her arms around the kids. They all seemed happy, hugging each other and smiling at the camera. It tugged at something in Lydia’s stomach, some feeling that something was wrong. She thought of the abandoned school, and wondered what could’ve happened to change this happy scene.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she found the call feature on the computer and navigated to the Hell’s Gate lab center. A black screen popped up and the “Connecting…” sign blinked for several seconds before the screen lit up to a video of Dr. Max Patel, leaning in close to the camera.

“Hello? Hello, can you hear me? Is this Lydia, calling out of Site 19?”

“Hello, hi, yes it’s me! I guess calling from Site 19, I’m at Grace’s old trailer near Hometree.”

“Lydia! Everyone here thought you were-” He was cut off by Grace who all but shoved him out of the way to get to the camera.

“What the hell happened out there to you, kid?! You almost gave me a fucking heart attack!” Despite the angry words, Lydia could hear the relief in her aunt’s voice and smiled.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have wandered off, but guess where I ended up! I’m at Hometree!” She grinned and threw her arms out. “And you said I wasn’t going to get here on the first day.”

“Well I guess you proved me wrong. What happened? Is Jake there?” Lydia sighed and rubbed her head.

“Yeah he’s here. He’s a little beat up, but he’s here.”

“Who found the two of you, and why are they letting you stay there?”

“Well, Jake was found by Neytiri, and I was found by a guy named ‘Tsu’tey.’” Grace stared at her and blinked.

“Neytiri, the daughter of Mo’at and Eytukan, is going to be the next _Tsahik_, and Tsu’tey is going to be the next _Olo’eyktan_. Congrats, kid, you both stumbled into two of the most important people in the clan.”

“…Oh… well that explains some things. He did say he was too busy to help me…” She saw Grace lean down with her head in her hands. She dragged them down across her face as she sat up.

“Okay. Tell me what you were doing in the forest, and what Mo’at said.”

“Well. After I realized I wasn’t being chased, I climbed a tree. And I stayed in that tree trying to think of what I was going to do next. Then a few _atokirina _landed on me. Just after that Tsu’tey started interrogating me. Then he made me climb out of the tree, and I fell out and my shoulder was dislocated. Then he brought me back to the tree, where Jake already was. The _Tsahik_ talked to me, asked me why I was here, and I told her I wanted to learn and build a connection between humans and Na’vi. Then she said Neytiri would help Jake, and Tsu’tey would help me.” Grace blinked again and ran her hands through her hair.

“Well damn, Lydia. Are you okay, other than your shoulder?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m smelly and scratched up, but Tsu’tey popped my shoulder back in. And I’m hungry, but there’s gotta be some stuff around here to eat.” Grace was about to respond when there was a commotion behind her.

“Is that Lydia? She’s okay?!” Makoto shoved her face into frame and grinned when she saw Lydia. “There you are! What did I tell you?! I told you to be careful and this is what you do! Never do that to me again, I thought you died!” She stared through the camera at Lydia, her eyes red and puffy. Behind her Norm leaned into frame, a goofy grin on his face. He waved and Lydia sighed.

“Hey, Norm. And I’m so sorry, Makoto, I didn’t know when I left this morning I would be at Hometree! But I’ll be careful from here on out, I promise.” Lydia found her own eyes tearing up, and blinked them quickly. “But hey! This is what I wanted!” She smiled despite the stray tears on her face. Makoto sighed.

“Yeah I know, just don’t do anything too dangerous. Like run away from a giant armored death cat.”

“I’ll do my best.”

Grace moved back into frame, her dark circles apparent even through the camera.

“Okay listen, you better be careful. We’ve lost enough family. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, and keep an eye on that marine. I want to talk to you tomorrow but you’ve been through a hell of a lot today. Get some sleep.”

Lydia nodded and looked back to her aunt and her best friend. There was a small crowd gathered behind them, other scientists listening in to hear about Hometree. This wouldn’t be easy without them here, but this _was_ what she wanted. She’d be okay as long as she could talk to them.

“I will. Goodnight Grace, Makoto, Norm, and the crowd gathered behind you.” A few nervous laughs came from the crowd as they dispersed, and a loud ‘goodnight!’ was called from Beatrice.

“Night, kid. Good luck.”

“See you, Lyd. Stay safe.”

“Bye guys.” Lydia said as she cut the transmission. She leaned back in her chair and scrubbed her face with her hands.

Standing up on sore legs, she trudged to the shower and stripped off her dirty clothes. She stood under the sputtering shower, scrubbing dirt and muck off every part of herself. A bottle of Grace’s vanilla scented shampoo remained and Lydia used it generously, scrubbing her hands through her thick curls. Her skin was practically raw when she stepped out but it felt so good after being sweaty and dirty for most of the day.

Wrapped in a towel, she poked around the trailer for extra clothes. She found a couple of Grace’s t-shirts in both human and Na’vi sizes. She pulled out a yellow shirt her avatar had worn and decided it would make an okay pajama shirt.

Before changing she walked to her windows and drew the blinds on them to ensure that someone or something wouldn’t be able to look in on her. Once she was in the shirt (that almost swallowed her small frame whole), she dried her hair gently and shook it out. The action of shaking her head made her dizzy and she realized she hadn’t eaten since that morning. She pulled out one of her ration bars and studied it. Who knew when she could get more food? Tearing off the wrapper, she hoped Grace would be able to get her something more soon.

The bar tasted like the congealed oatmeal she’d eaten that morning, but it was packed with calories and protein. It managed to fill her up enough that her stomach stopped growling. She chased it down with her canteen of water.

She made her way to the nearest bed and flopped down in it, not caring about clean sheets in the slightest. It was only minutes before she succumbed to a deep sleep, her mind and body both exhausted from her adventure. The last thing she registered before sleep was the howling and chirping of Pandora’s night chorus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, thanks for your patience! This chapter's song is "The Storm" by Maisy Kay! It's a song entirely in Na'vi, check it out!~


	6. Natives of the Windy Forest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!! Thanks for sticking around, and I hope you enjoy this chapter! The song for this chapter is "Natives of the Windy Forest" by Willow Smith! This song is entirely about the Na'vi, and a few other songs of hers have Na'vi lyrics! So yeah, enjoy! (notes are in the chapter summary bc I'm having to use a different browser to update and it's not allowing me to use chapter notes for some reason :/)

Lydia was still in a deep sleep when she was shocked into the waking world by a loud SLAM on the outside of the trailer. She jumped with a start, falling out of her bed and onto the cold floor.

“Get up, _tawtute_!” Tsu’tey’s voice echoed from the outside, his knuckles rapping on the metal.

“Ugghhh” Lydia groaned from the floor as she pushed herself up and blinked the sleep from her eyes. Early morning light shone through the blinds of the windows and dabbled the floor in dull patches. Crawling up onto her unsteady legs, she wobbled as she made her way to her backpack, carelessly discarded on the floor of the trailer. Shifting through it, she pulled out her change of clothes. Another pair of khaki shorts and a Red Sox tank top, she pulled off the avatar t-shirt and put her clothes on, still blinking exhaustion out of her eyes.

She was pulling another ration bar out of her pack when she heard his knuckles rap against the outside again.

“I’m coming, hold on!” Lydia yelled, tearing the wrapper off the bar and biting into it. “I gotta eat first.” She took the time while she was eating to pull her curls up into a ponytail and washed her face. When the sawdust-tasting bar was gone, she brushed her teeth and tried not to think about someone else using this toothbrush, no matter how long ago it was.

“Would you like to go a little slower?” He called, his irritation bleeding through the trailer walls and making Lydia’s shoulders tighten.

“I could if you really want!” Grumbling, she slid on her mask and stomped outside of the trailer, her bare feet lightly burning on the metal steps. She hopped onto the ground and peered up at him, her arms crossed. He mimicked her posture, his face a mask of impatience.

“_I am leaving to train the hunters. Find your way around carefully and know you are being watched._” And with that he turned and walked away. Lydia stared at his back, hardly surprised at his attitude.

“Well fine, maybe I’ll find someone willing to actually talk to me!” She called after him, though if he heard her he gave no sign and simply moved along into the foliage, melting into the leaves as if he’d never been there at all.

Gripping her elbows close to herself, Lydia walked down the path to Hometree. It was still too early for the full force of the sun to be up and the air was surprisingly cool and damp. Around her plants swayed in a slight breeze, green leaves and pink petals wafting along the path. She stopped to stare at a purple-leaved plant, leaning in close as she dared to look at the patterns on the plant’s blossoms. Dark veins wound around the petals, and a small caterpillar-like bug crawled up the stem. Grace would know what this plant was, and Makoto would know about this bug. She felt a pang of longing for their presence but tried to force it away in favor of looking and learning.

Turning back down the path, she made her way into the tree. It was surprisingly empty this early in the morning, a few people going about their tasks in the fading dawn. Still gripping her arms closely, she walked around and took time to look at the different decorations and appliances that lay around the tree in its ancient hollows.

Hung tapestries decorated parts of the inner structure, a story portrayed in every piece. Some were done on animal hides and painted with inks and dyes while others were woven with detailed images patterned in the cloth. Lydia followed the tales down a pathway, trying to piece together the details and complexities within the tapestries. Most of them eluded her, though she thought she caught the grasp of one about an old battle between clans that was settled by each clans’ _Tsahik_.

She didn’t realize how long she had been staring at the art until she felt the presence of more bodies around her. Tearing her eyes away from the tapestries she saw the beginnings of the Omaticaya’s morning rituals. People had begun to move this way and that, some carrying large woven baskets on their backs while others moved in couples or groups to begin daily tasks and chores.

Wandering away from the story wall, she strolled more or less aimlessly through the tree, the desire to explore being tempered by the massive amount of new things to learn and see. People were beginning to move about in earnest now, the village moving into the full swing of the day. She had just passed a large loom, at least the size of two full grown Na’vi, when she felt herself being followed.

Turning around, she saw two children watching her. They giggled when she saw them and the smaller of the children hid behind the bigger. She smiled at them and waved.

“_Hello. My name is Lydia, what’s yours_?” They giggled again and edged closer, the smaller one still gripping tightly to the bigger one.

_“My name is Tsyal and this is my younger sister, Antep!_” The girls smiled and walked up to Lydia. The smallest girl, Antep, was still at least half a foot taller than Lydia, and her sister must’ve been at least a foot and a half taller.

“_Well it’s nice to meet you both. I see you, Tsyal and Antep_.” Lydia moved her bent hand from her forehead and brought it down. The girls repeated the motion and greeted her with the same words.

“_You’re family with Toktor Grace? Is she going to come back and visit?_” Tsyal asked, her eyes hopeful. “_We miss her._”

“_Maybe if the Tsahik will allow it. And I’m sure she misses you too._” Antep grinned and inched closer, her eyes scrutinizing Lydia.

“_Do all Sky People have spots? And orange hair?_” The girl stuck her hand out to Lydia’s arm, her fingers barely grazing the skin. Another laugh bubbled out of Lydia and she turned her arm over.

“_No, not like I have. Many people have a few on their bodies, but I have more than most. We call them ‘_freckles.’ _And some people dye their hair to look like mine, but this color isn’t so common_.”

“Freckles…” Antep hummed and Tsyal moved to Lydia’s side, tilting her head down at the shorter woman.

“_You’re so small too! Are you small for a Sky Person?_”

“_Yes, I am! I am very short, but children being taller than me isn’t anything unusual._” Tsyal giggled again and grabbed Lydia’s wrist.

“_Come with me! I want to show you around!_” She pulled Lydia off in another direction, Antep following in behind.

Lydia found it much easier to keep up with Tsyal, her only-slightly-taller self not having as wide a gait as Tsu’tey. The young girl began rapidly explaining every gathering and station within the tree, her excitement clear.

“_Over there is where the weavers do most of their work, on the looms. And right by it is where they make the dye. Oh, and over here is where they’re separating leaves to make into mats! And over this way, this is where plants are made into spices for cooking._”

“_I’m going to be a cook when I grow up!_” Antep piped up, grabbing Lydia’s other hand. “_Our sa’nu is a cook and I’m going to learn from her when I get big enough!_”

“_I’m sure you’ll be an amazing cook! What do you want to make?_” Lydia laughed and looked up at the girl, her eyes big and bright.

“_Everything! I want to be the best cook we’ve ever had!_”

“_That’s a big goal! I’m sure if you work hard you’ll be great!_”

Antep giggled again, her tail whipping around in excitement.

“_Can you eat any of our food, Lydia?_” She asked, eyes big and curious.

“_Maybe. I think I should be able to eat teylu, but I’ll have make sure_.”

“_Sa’nu makes really good teylu! Try hers first, it’s better than Ninya’s!_” Tsyal piped up beside Lydia.

“_I’ll be sure to!_” Lydia smiled warmly up at the girl, noticing the little beads and ribbons woven into her braids.

Before Lydia was able to ask the girls another question, a woman began calling to them, her voice pitched with the slightest degree of worry.

“_Tsyal! Antep! Come here, you need to help me prepare day meals for the hunters!_” She gathered the woven shawl around her shoulders and waved the girls over, her eyes tracking Lydia closely.

“_Yes sa’nu! Goodbye, Lydia!_” Tsyal said, grabbing her sister’s hand, seemingly oblivious to her mother’s worry. Antep waved goodbye and followed her sister’s lead to their mother. She gathered the girls close to her and cast one last look at Lydia. When they had walked away, Lydia stood alone again, the hollows of the tree a daunting maze.

Unable to really retrace her steps back through the tree, she simply picked a direction and began walking. The eyes of the Omaticaya traced her, some with open hostility, others with curiosity like the girls. Lydia kept her arms close to herself and tried to pass under their gaze; given her height, it seemed easy.

Passing through natural archways, she stepped back out into the sunlight. The mid-morning sun warmed her skin and dappled the ground. Looking around, she saw that she was on the side of the tree closest to the river she’d seen the previous night. The waterfall poured in the distance and the area was buzzing with life.

In the clearing, people moved to and fro, each with their own task to attend to. Several people lead massive direhorses around the glade, the elephant sized horses snorting and snuffling around for food. Their long tongues slurped nectar out of tall tube-like flowers while insects buzzed around them, vying for a chance at the nectar.

Standing just a ways away, she noticed Jake with Neytiri. So she was helping him instead of just tossing him out on his own. She felt a pang of regret that Neytiri wasn’t assigned to help her. At least then she might get more firsthand aid in learning and understanding life here.

From a distance, she watched as Jake clumsily mounted the direhorse, swaying under the horse’s movement. She saw Neytiri talking to him, her hand rubbing calming strokes on the animal. Cautiously, Lydia approached from the side to get a closer look at what Neytiri was talking about.

“That is _Tsaheylu_, the bond. Feel her. Feel her heart beat. Her breath. Feel her strong legs. You may tell her what to do, inside,” She tapped her forehead and stepped back. “For now, say where to go.”

“Forward!” Jake sat up and pointed, as if he wasn’t sure the horse would understand otherwise. Instead of a gentle walk or trot, the horse took off at a gallop, knocking Jake off its back and directly into a mud puddle.

Lydia instinctively covered her mouth as a laugh burst out, her hands slapping against the plastic mask. Neytiri laughed as well, jogging over to grab the horse.

“Way to go, cowboy!” Lydia called at him, walking closer, careful to avoid the mud.

“Oh yeah, yeah, I’d like to see you try and ride one of those.” He stood up and flicked his hands, mud splattering on Lydia’s legs.

“Real mature, jackass.” Lydia glared at him and Neytiri came back, holding the horse by a lead rope.

“Do you ride horses on Earth?” Neytiri asked, twisting the rope around in her hands.

“Some people do, not me though.” Jake grinned at her, his mud splattered face cracking.

“That is easy to tell.” Neytiri smiled at him, almost blushing as her eyes sparkled. “Do you?” She looked down at Lydia.

“Ride horses? I did a couple times when I was little. But nothing like this.” She gestured to the massive horse as its front four legs pawed at the dirt.

Cautiously, she approached the animal and rested her hand on its flank. It shifted in response, leaning its long face over to sniff her. The long tongue she’d observed earlier slipped out and licked her mask.

“Thanks for that…” She wiped her hand across the mask, clearing the slobber off.

“She likes you, a little more than Jake, I think.” Neytiri pat the horse’s neck. “Would you like to sit on her?”

“Can I?” Her excitement was evident as she leaned against the horse.

“Yes, I can lift you.” She said, moving to Lydia’s side.

“Actually…can I try to mount her like Jake did? Like just get a running start and…ya know?” Lydia mimed jumping up onto the horse. “Or would that scare her or…?”

Neytiri look from the horse, to Lydia, and back to the horse.

“…You can try? I will hold her still if you really want to jump.” Her tone was doubtful, but she stepped aside with the horse’s guide rope tightly in her hand.

Lydia backed up a good distance and readied herself. She hadn’t attempted a jump like this in quite a while, but she hoped muscle memory would be enough to help guide her legs back in to form. Focusing, she began her sprint towards the horse, pushing herself off the ground at the last minute. The low gravity of the moon might’ve aided and for a brief minute, Lydia felt weightless in the air. Her hand latched onto the horse’s chitin-like shoulder and she braced her legs against the animals’ flank. She felt it shift with surprise but forced herself to grab another handhold on the animals crest and hefted herself onto its back.

She settled onto its back, sitting close to its neck crest and stretching her legs out. A grin split her face as she looked down at Jake, who gaped back at her.

“How the hell were you able to jump like that?!” He asked, still wiping mud off himself.

“It comes with being a volleyball spiker since I was little. People always underestimate how high I can jump because I’m so short. It was like a secret weapon.” She straightened her posture and ran her hands along the crest of the horse.

“_Pa’li_ likes you. She seems calm under you.” Neytiri gave the animal a pat on the neck.

“Okay well get off, I need to try again.” Jake walked up again and crossed his arms.

“Give me a few minutes! This is nice.” She leaned onto the horse’s neck and felt her breath. Her muscles flexed, the power evident in the movements. “I might not be able to bond with her but I can still feel her. It’s incredible.” Lydia relaxed and stroked the horse, searching out every detail.

The thundering sound of hooves interrupted her moment and she, along with Neytiri and Jake, turned to look for the cause. A small group of riders galloped out into the clearing, Tsu’tey at their front. They rounded off and stopped beside the other three, Tsu’tey turning to give Jake a disdainful look.

“You should go away.” His tone was sharp and condescending as he glared at Jake’s mud-covered frame.

“Nah, then you’d miss me.” Jake returned the glare with a smarmy grin. “I knew you could speak English.”

Tsu’tey ignored him and turned to Neytiri. If he noticed Lydia on the horse, he gave no indication of it.

“_This moron will learn nothing. A rock sees more_.” He smirked but Neytiri merely smiled and shook her head. Lydia couldn’t help the small laugh she let out at his statement and he turned his attention to her. “_Why are you on a pa’li?_”

“_Because Neytiri said I could. And she’s actually helping me, instead of just leaving me_.” Lydia shifted and crossed her arms.

“_I told you I am busy. And you cannot even ride pa’li, this is pointless_.” He waved his hand dismissively.

“_No it’s not. This is amazing. Just because I can’t bond with her doesn’t mean I can’t try to understand her a little._” Lydia rubbed the animal’s neck again and it responded with a high pitched snort.

Tsu’tey shook his head and Neytiri walked up to him.

“Go.” She lightly smacked his horse’s haunch and it trotted off, the other riders following in behind. Lydia watched him leave, impressed that he didn’t have to hold onto the horse to remain upright on it.

“Come,” Neytiri said to Lydia. “Let Jake try again.” Lydia swung her legs over the horse and slid down her back, landing just a little too hard on her ankles.

“Ow…” She attempted to roll them around as she walked away. Jake stepped by her and hoisted himself up on the pa’li again, adjusting himself on her back.

“Stay and watch, if you want. _Pa’li_ are important to Omaticaya life, you will learn too.” She gave Lydia a small smile and turned her attention back to Jake. So Lydia made herself comfortable on a (thankfully bug-free) log and watched how Neytiri instructed.

*****

Tsu’tey sat back between the roots of a tree as he watched Saeyla and Ka’ani race again to the limb of a _tautral _he’d marked as a finish line. Atan plopped down next to him, passing him a _nikt’chey_ that the cooks had prepared for them.

“_It’ll be time for their Iknimaya soon. You think they will be ready_?” Atan asked, biting into his own food wrap. Tsu’tey shrugged as he chewed on his.

“_Ka’ani seems to have less trouble than Saeyla. I think he will be capable enough, but I worry about Saeyla. She had a difficult time with her pa’li, I do not know how she will do with an ikran._” Atan laughed and stretched out.

“_She’ll be fine, so long as her teacher doesn’t distract her too much_.” Atan grinned and nudged Tsu’tey’s ribs.

“_She has the feelings of a child, she will grow out of them_.” He watched as Ka’ani leapt and grabbed the limb and let out a shout of victory. Saeyla scowled at him from just small ways below him.

“_Again, both of you. You are still too slow, do better_.” Tsu’tey crossed his arms and tilted his head back. Both of his young hunters groaned but prepared to race up again.

“_I’m glad I never had to train under you…_” Atan mumbled while he watched the students leap off the ground and begin their ascent.

“_They complain about having to climb so much, but they could not beat either of us if they tried. They need to do better or they will not succeed._”

“_Speaking of climbing, didn’t you find that little Sky Person stuck in a tree_?”

Tsu’tey rolled his head back and groaned. “_Yes. It would have been funny if it were not so pathetic. And what do I get for bringing her here? I have to ‘teach’ her, along with trying to make those two competent hunters_.” He pointed at Ka’ani, who had just reached the victory limb, but seemed to be too out of breath to care.

“_Maybe she will go back to the other Sky People soon. Or maybe she will get eaten_.” Atan laughed and drew a chuckle out of Tsu’tey.

“_She was scared to walk to Grace Augustine’s old home, just outside of Kelutral. We will see how long she lasts_.”

“_Why do you think Neytiri let her on a pa’li? She has not earned the right to ride, nor will she. It is a pointless thing._” Atan scowled as he spoke, his unhappiness with the situation just as strong as Tsu’tey’s.

“_Neytiri has a soft spot for the Sky-Person, as she is Grace Augustine’s family. She misses Grace despite all that has been done because of her. It is only sentiment that draws her to the Sky-Person, and to the demon_._” _

“_Yes, and what about the Dream-Walker demon? I do not understand Olo’eyktan’s decision to let him stay, let alone be trained by his daughter_.”

“_We must respect his decision, but that does not mean we have to trust the Dream-Walker. Keep a close watch on it._”

“_Of course. At the first sign of deceit, we will end its life._” Atan smirked, his confidence clear. Tsu’tey returned the same look before returning his attention to his young _taronyu_ in the tree.

He gave a high-pitched whistle and shouted up to them. “_Come, there is still much to practice before we are done for the day_.” The two students shouted back and began their dexterous descent from the tree.

As Tsu’tey maneuvered his way through the jungle he let his mind wander to the tasks ahead of him. He had to make Ka’ani and Saeyla into confident _pa’li makto_ before he could even think of readying them for _Iknimaya_. Then there his meditation sessions with Eytukan, Mo’at, and Neytiri where he had to practice his patience and listening, taking time away from his hunters. And now he had Grace Augustine’s niece to deal with. A small Sky-Person who, despite whatever she said, was absolutely not to be trusted. And the Dream-Walker, another person he just wanted gone. Too much was changing too rapidly. The return of Sky-People and Dream-Walkers could only mean something big was coming. Whatever it was, he felt it would be nothing good. Nothing good in the slightest.


	7. The Warrior's Code

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Thanks for your patience, here's chapter 7, I hope you enjoy! The chapter title is "The Warrior's Code" by the Dropkick Murphys, I promise it's relevant lol. Notes are gonna stay here bc I'm using explorer to upload bc Chrome WILL NOT let me in lol and btw if you want more Avatar/Tsu'tey/WMITS stuff, you can find me on tumblr @pandoraheadcanons !!

Lydia sat in her trailer, the Pandoran dusk dimly glowing outside her window. She’d been at Hometree for a week now, and had hardly seen Tsu’tey. He woke her up in the morning, dragged her to breakfast, then he departed for the rest of the day. Jake, meanwhile, had been receiving near constant attention from Neytiri. Lucky bastard.

Turning away from her computer screen, Lydia sighed and looked down at a small preserved plant in a glass. A lingering reminder of Grace’s past presence here. Where Grace had kept organized notes about plants and their uses, Lydia had begun keeping stream-of-consciousness style documents. She had tried to at least keep them separated by topic, but for the most part she just copied down anything that struck her notice.

Currently, she was looking at her notes on food. She’d been trying to properly recall the way a spice for sturmbeest meat was prepared, but she’d gotten lost halfway through the grinding-phase. She’d been watching Tsyal and Antep’s mother, Mo’sut, at their encouragement. Mo’sut had been less than thrilled at her girls’ idea, but had given in at their incessant pestering. Lydia did her best to stay out of the older woman’s way while she worked, and was hesitant to ask her anything. She’d tried once to ask for clarification only to be met with an irritated look and a sharp tone.

“Just be patient.” Was what Grace had told her when they had last spoke. “No one’s going to trust you immediately. All you can do is show them you’re trustworthy and polite. Give it time.” Time. Lydia wondered how much time that would be. It wasn’t that she wanted to force it, it was just that she desperately wanted to make some progress. The more information and knowledge she could collect, the more she could force the RDA to actually acknowledge the Na’vi’s as a people, not just things in their way.

_Fat chance_, the negative part of mind told her. The RDA barely recognized their own employees as people. People were only valuable on how much labor they could produce, and how cheaply they would work for. Sure being a miner or demolition tech paid well, but not nearly as well as a corporate director would make.

“All a bunch of bullshit…” she mused out loud, dragging her hands through her curls. Leaning back in her chair, she dropped her left hand to her necklace and rubbed it between her index finger and thumb. Using her right hand, she opened the list of available locations to call and clicked on one that would take her to the entomology lab.

In a few moments the “Connecting…” screen clicked into a bright frame, a friendly, bearded face filling the screen.

“Hey, Robert! How’re you?” Lydia smiled at the entomologist.

“Hello! Quite good, quite good, you?”

“I’m doing well, thank you. I was wondering if Makoto was around?”

“Aye, she is! One moment,” he rolled back in his own chair and looked off to his right. “Oi, Dr. Tanaka! Call for you!” He pushed himself off the chair and Makoto jogged into frame, sliding down into the chair and rolling up.

“Hey girl, how’re you? How’s Hometree life?” Makoto crossed her legs up into the chair and scooched close to the screen.

“It’s good! Mostly! No one really trusts me yet, which I get, but it’s just…super awkward. And the guy who’s supposed to be helping is basically ignoring me so that’s fun. The kids seem to like me, though.”

“Well that’s good! Kids have good instincts about people, maybe the others will warm up to you soon.”

“Fingers crossed. What’s it like on your end? Tell me about the bugs!” Lydia grinned as Makoto threw her back and let out a long “Aahhhh” shout before shooting back up.

“Lydia, the bugs are incredible. This whole MOON is incredible. We’ve barely made a dent in the discovery and categorization of these bugs. We don’t even know if we can call them ‘insects’ even though we have the arachnoid. But who knows how many different species of them there are? Hell, we can’t even sex them unless we wait to see which one lays eggs, but there’s no guarantee these things even follow the earth’s typical binary. I mean we can tell by coloration in this one subspecies of arachnoid that we see a lot here, but there’s no guarantee it works the same on all of them. There’s just so much to do I’m gonna go insane.”

Lydia smirked back, one eyebrow raised. “But you love it, don’t pretend you don’t.” Makoto beamed at her, her eyes practically glowing.

“Of course I do! I just can’t wait to get out in the jungle and do some first-hand research. Hopefully we won’t get chased by a thanator like, _some_ people.”

“I’m never gonna live that down am I?”

“Absolutely not.” Lydia rolled her eyes and slid down in the chair.

“Okay, enough of that. What about you and that pilot, Trudy?” Makoto groaned and put her head in her hands.

“It’s…well… it sucks. She’s so hot and cool and like. I’m cool, I know that, but what if she thinks I’m just a weird bug nerd?”

“You are a weird bug nerd. But maybe she likes nerds? She flies the scientists around, right?”

“I mean yeah, but that’s like her job. You know what I did last time I saw her? Made a total idiot of myself.” She dragged her hands around her beet-red face.

“I’m sure it wasn’t as bad as you think it was.”

“I said I liked how she flies.”

“I mean…it’s a compliment? So it’s not that bad?” Lydia rested her chin on her hand as she watched her friend’s mini-breakdown. “Wait, should we be having this conversation in the lab?”

“It’s only me and Robert in here, and he knows.”

A voice came from off screen, the brogue recognizable as Robert. “Aye, I do. Don’t worry, I’ll help her with the pickup lines in your place.” Makoto groaned again and buried her head in her arms on the table.

“It’s only been like a week, just win her over with that Tanaka charm. I dunno, show her one of your old cheer routines.” Lydia grinned and was met with a scowl.

“Yeah, I don’t think ‘ra-ra cis-boom-ba’ is gonna win me any points in the ‘please like me back’ thing I’m going for.”

“Maybe she’ll think it’s sexy! You worry too much, you barely even know her yet, just try to hang out with her or something.”

Robert popped back into frame, clutching some sort of terrarium in his arms. “I’m working on getting us out into the jungle for research, I’ll try to get Trudy as pilot for it!” Makoto groaned.

“Ok, I’m turning this call off, you two are out of control. I’m gonna go look at the Hellfire Wasp venom analysis, goodnight, Lydia. Try not to get maimed.”

“I’ll do my very best, night Makoto, Robert.”

“Night!” Robert called as Makoto rolled her eyes and cut the call off. Lydia felt her smile fade when the camera was off and she huffed and laid her head down on her desk. It was great to be out at Hometree by herself, but she and Makoto and Norm were all supposed to do this together. Now who knew when Norm would be able to come here and when she’d see Makoto in person? Instead, she was stuck with some Marine jerk and a guide who wanted nothing to do with her. Ugh.

*****

His feet padded softly on the stairs as he walked up to the Healing Place, a natural nook in _Kelutral_, and Mo’at’s domain.

He pushed the woven curtain away from the doorway and stepped into the warmly lit room. “_I see you, Tsahik. You wished to speak with me?_” Mo’at didn’t look up from her work as she ground a root with a mortar and pestle.

“_Yes, I did. I wish to discuss your activities with the little Sky Person, or lack thereof._” She turned to face him, her face betraying nothing but her usual serene calm as she swayed past him to a stone jar in a corner.

“_Tsahik…what am I to do with her? She cannot hunt, ride, or do anything like the Dream-Walker. This is an impossible task._”

“_The Tsu’tey I know would never say that something is impossible. It is true she cannot ride or hunt, but many of our people cannot do these things. I gave you this task because I know you are capable, just as Neytiri is. The girl desires to forge peace, her intentions seem to be honest._”

Tsu’tey huffed and crossed his arms. “_Peace? How can there be peace when the Sky People are involved? After what they have done-_”

“_You do not need to remind me what they have done. We both still feel the pain of that day._” She rested her hand on his shoulder. “_But this girl was not there, and she has not been violent here. The children like her, and play with her. Mo’sut has allowed her to watch her prepare food, and the weavers have discussed letting her watch them as well. Her heart is honest, and she wants to learn. Watch and teach, Tsu’tey._” She stepped away from him and went back to her rack of herbs and ointments, fingers dragging across them until she found the one she needed. Tsu’tey stood and watched, irritation at his predicament still gnawing at him.

“_I will do as you ask, Tsahik. But what am I to do about Ka’ani and Saeyla? The time for their Iknimaya is approaching and they still require training._” She shook her head and turned her head to face him.

“_If you have trained them well, they will be able to practice on their own. But you must come to understand that when you become Olo’eyktan, your life will be far busier. This is good training for that._” Her tone was almost flippant and Tsu’tey felt his posture sag just a little as he inhaled.

“_Yes, Tsahik. I will think of something._”

“_I know you will, ‘evi. Eywa ngahu._”

“_Eywa ngahu._” He shifted the curtain out of the way and stepped back out onto the landing outside her sanctum. He let out a long sigh and began his descent back down, dragging his hand down the bark as he went. Now he just had to think of something he could show the Sky Person that would satisfy her and be easy enough for her to do.

He had just reached the hard-pressed ground when he heard someone call out at him.

“_Eykyu!_” Saeyla jogged up to him, waving at him. “_I have been looking for you, I have a question!_” He groaned internally but turned to her, masking the irritation he felt easily.

“_Go on, ask._” She grinned and bounced on her toes.

“_I was curious as to when we will be going out to train again, my aim has improved since last time!_”

“_’Last time’ was only five days ago, aim does not get better in that short of a time._” He saw Saeyla’s face falter for a second before lighting back up.

“_But it has Eykyu! Please let me prove it!_” He sighed down at her.

“_In time, Saeyla. There is still…much improvement to be made. We will go out soon, but if you wish to practice more, ask Maru for help._” He watched as her ears drooped, but she still smiled back to him.

“_Yes, Eykyu. I will speak to her._” She stood as if there was more she wanted to say, but decided against it and turned to leave.

Tsu’tey watched her for a moment before shaking his head and walking down the path that would lead him out of _kelutral_ and to the Sky People’s trailer. He’d barely talked to the girl in days, and had simply left her to do…whatever it was she was doing. But now Mo’at had given him the firm instruction to do better, so he would. Even if he didn’t really want to.

Walking towards the trailer, he noticed that something had been changed. There was a table sitting outside the building, and the girl was working over it, a variety of things spread out in front of her. She didn’t seem to notice his approach, and he quietly slipped into the tree line by the path, grinning to himself.

Slinking up, he made sure to make no sound as he got close to her work place, the table set up just a short distance from the trees. He peered out at her, watching as she worked still bent over the table, hands moving as if she was drawing something. A box on her table played music, covering any sound. Taking a deep breath, he leapt from the trees, shouting.

The girl gave a high-pitched shriek and leapt back further than he would have thought her capable of, her hands coming up defensively in front of her. In the second it took her to realize it was him, he was practically on the ground laughing.

“What the fuck is wrong with you!!? You almost gave me a fucking heart attack, you jerk!” She grasped at her heart and leaned down on her knees, her breathing rapid. She glared up at him through her mask as she stood up, her arms crossed in front of her.

“_You frighten so easily, like a yerik._”

“Of course I got scared, you just jumped out at me from nowhere!”

“If you were paying attention, and not listening to music, you would have heard me.” He strolled over to where she was working, pretending to ignore the stormy look on her face. “What are you doing?”

“I’m just sketching things I see around here. Plants, tools, animals, that kind of thing.” She turned back to her table, the small flat thing she had glowing with a design of a leaf she’d sat next to her. The music box kept going, the sound strange and annoying.

“Why do you listen to this, it’s not good.” He said, looking over at it. She stuck her hand out over it as if she worried he’d smash it.

“It’s very good, it’s the Dropkick Murphys, and listening to music helps me work, so if you don’t mind…” She shifted back over to her work station, picking up the utensil she used to draw with, her browns drawn down.

He sighed and walked around the table, leaning down till he was almost level with her. She paid him no mind, though she was grinding her teeth.

“_Is your purpose here honest?_” That seemed to catch her off guard and she looked back up at him, hand pushing her hair back.

“_You mean being here, wanting to build peace and connections? Yes, that is what I want._”

“_The Tsahik has instructed me to help you, so I will. But I do not trust you, or your Dream-walker friend._” She gave a bark of laughter at that.

“Jake isn’t my friend, I don’t even like him. He shouldn’t be here, he just got lucky_._”

He paused at what he was about to say, looking her over for deceit. When he found none, he smirked, just barely. “_On that at least I agree with you._”

“_Look at us, already getting along like best friends._” Her humor was flat, but she gave him a shrug and half a smile. She set her pen down on the table and looked up at him. “_So what are we going to do_?”

“_You cannot hunt, but that does not mean you have to wander around the forest like a lenay’ga without its head._” She made a face when he mentioned the _lenay’ga_ and he wondered if the creature upset her in some way. No matter. “_So we will go in and I will show you how to find your way and pay attention to your surroundings_.”

Her face lit up in a smile, her energy exuberant. “You mean it?!” she squealed in disbelief. He pinned his ears back to his head and frowned.

“Yes, but not if you shout like that while we are out.”

“Oh, of course not, no! I’m just really excited!” Her grin nearly split her face. “Just lemme go get my boots on and I’ll be ready!” Gathering her things up in her arms, she hopped back up into her trailer, leaving him standing there. He blew out a long breath and braced himself for whatever was to happen when he took her out into the wild.

*****

Lydia did her best to keep up with his long stride as she followed him into the brush. He slowed down the smallest bit out of consideration for her shorter legs, though she was still struggling. He navigated the forest with such ease and grace, it made her feel clumsy as a newborn. Maybe there was something to his “wandering around like infants” comment he’d snarked about when they first met.

Her muscles were beginning to burn by the time Tsu’tey stopped in the middle of forest. She looked around, trying to see what had caused them to stop so suddenly, though nothing stuck out to her. It was just another patch of roots, ferns, and moss. It was still more green than she’d ever seen in one place though, so she leaned back with her hands on her hips to admire it.

“So, what’re we gonna do here?” She asked, rubbernecking at every sound she heard. Her hands went to her necklace as she waited for his answer.

“_An animal was here not long ago. I want you to find out what it was, and to tell me which way it went._” He leant back against a tree and stared at her, watching her closely.

“Uhm, okay. It’s nothing that’s gonna like. Kill me right?” Tsu’tey rolled his eyes.

“No. It would be stupid to take you somewhere dangerous, and I am not stupid.”

“If you say so…” Lydia mumbled to herself as she began to search the area for…whatever it was she was supposed to notice.

Minutes passed by as she wandered around, fingers tapping absently on the shield of her mask, her mind whirring to figure out what it was she was missing here. _Think_, she told herself, _What would an animal leave? Tracks, scat, maybe gnawed plants?_

“Can you give me a hint? Does it eat plants?”

“Yes.” She turned back to look at him, and shook her head as she began her circle walk again. Look for signs that a herbivore had snacked here, easy peasy. Slowly, she began to examine the plants she found on the forest floor until she found a fern that had been bitten off in the middle of the stem, the raw end of the plant still damp and green.

“I found something! Something bit off the end of this plant!” She beamed up at him and he pursed his lips and nodded.

“Yes, and it only took you as long as an inf-”

“An infant I know. Just lemme have this.”

He huffed and pushed himself off the tree. “Yes, something has been grazing here, but it’s not the only sign. Keep going.”

“You must give great pep talks…” Still, she kneeled by the fern and looked at it closer, checking the area around it. Pressed right by the stem of the plant was a hoof print, still fresh in the earth.

“Footprints! It’s something with hooves!” The closer she looked, the more prints she noticed. Dozens of them were scattered around, crisscrossing each other as the animals had moved around the area. She couldn’t believe she’d missed this earlier; the prints seemed clear as day.

“Yes, those are _yerik_ prints. Now which way did they go?” Lydia spun around in her spot, searching the prints for one sign that would give her some hint of direction.

“These prints are all mixed up, how can you tell where it went?”

“Listen. What do you hear?”

What did she hear? Alright, sure, why not. She closed her eyes and focused on the sounds of the forest. There was a slight breeze blowing past her ear, the calls of Pandoran birds and prolemuris’ in the trees, but nothing that sounded like a ground animal. Then she heard something, just barely, coming upwind. A blowing sound, like someone messing with a woodwind instrument.

“Is that music?” She asked, eyes still shut, head tilted towards the sound.

“It is, for the forest. Open your eyes.” She did and blinked in the bright sunlight that dappled the forest floor. “It is coming from this plant over here, the _pamtseowll_. It is called the ‘music plant’ in English.” He pointed over to a tree branch just a small ways away. “Look at the side of the tree closely.”

She narrowed her eyes and peered at the tree he mentioned. Sure enough, there was an ivy-like plant blowing in the breeze, the woody music coming from it.

“The wind moving through it makes that pretty sound?” She took a step closer to it, but Tsu’tey reached his arm out, holding her back.

“Wind moving through it does create the music, but the wind is not blowing the same as the way the plant is moving. You see?” Peering closer she did see. The plant was almost blowing against the wind.

“What’s it doing? How is it doing that?” Lydia tried to shift closer but he held her back again.

“It tracks movement of life through the forest. When we pass it, it will track us. But because no one else is here, this means the _yerik_ came through here and passed that way.” He gestured down the way the deer-like creature had traveled.

“That’s kinda creepy…but also kinda wicked.”

“Creepy? Wicked?” He asked, clearly confused.

“Creepy means like. Weird and scary. Unsettling, it makes you feel uncomfortable and strange. And wicked is just like. It’s wicked. It means great, good, awesome, cool, interesting, whatever.” He shook his head.

“Use normal words.”

“Those are normal words! At least where I’m from.”

“Well you are here now, so it does not matter.”

“Nah,” She shrugged hands held out. “You can the girl outta Boston but you can’t take the Boston out of the girl.” He rubbed his hand over forehead and frowned.

“I have no idea what that means. _Tawtute_…” He shook his head and turned back to Hometree.

“Hey wait! Aren’t we gonna follow it?” She reached out to him, turning to look back at the music plant in dismay.

“No, you are not ready to go deeper in the forest.”

“Aww but I was just starting to get it…” She shoved her hands in her pockets and sighed. “Okay, lead the way, I guess.” He didn’t say anything, simply nodded his head and started back towards Hometree.

Lydia let her mind drift while she followed him back. She’d have so much to catalogue about the plants, the tracks, the music plant… hopefully it shouldn’t take her too long. Grace would already have files on the music plant, but she would add her perspective as an outside viewer to Pandora’s botany. She was so deep in her thoughts she almost didn’t hear Tsu’tey.

“Huh, what’d you say? Sorry.” He groaned and repeated himself.

“I said, what exactly do you do by drawing things here?” That…was not the kind of question she was expecting. Taking a second she thought about to answer him.

“Well…it’s how I view your world. The more sources people have about this place, the more of a…complete idea they’ll have. That way, instead of having to trust what one person says, they can look at what I have and get another perspective.”

“Hmm…so you draw so people will see how you see?”

“More or less. How everyone sees the world is important. I’m just trying to get mine down, and besides, drawing helps me think.” He said nothing in response, and the silence that settled was awkward, at least to Lydia.

After several paces, desperate to fill the silence, she dared to ask him a question. “Sooo what else do you have in mind for us to do? I know hunting is off the table, but maybe you could show me how to use a bow and arrow? Just for fun?” He stopped and turned to look at her.

“’For fun?’ Why is that any reason to teach you how to use a weapon?”

“Because it seems cool. People used to bow hunt on Earth, I wanna do it too. And do you still have my knives? When can I get those back?”

“When I decide you can be trusted enough to have them. Do you even know how to fight?”

“A little. I mean I got in a lot of fights in elementary school, and I took a women’s self-defense course in college.” He shook his head and resumed walking back to Hometree.

Lydia sighed loudly behind him. “Okay if you won’t teach me how to shoot, maybe you can show me how to…I dunno climb? You said I sucked at that.”

“I’m guessing ‘sucked’ is bad, and yes, you did.”

“So you’ll teach me?”

“_If you stop pestering me, I might._” His tone bled agitation as he shifted into speaking Na’vi.

“_Why the sudden language change? Did I do something wrong? You have to tell me if I did so I can fix it and not do it again._” Another groan.

“_You haven’t done anything to make me want to throttle you, I just hate speaking English_.”

“_Oh, okay. Well I’m glad you don’t want to kill me anymore. That’s always a good thing for a friendship_.”

“_We are not friends_.”

“You mean we’re not friends yet.” She replied, emphasis on the “yet.” “Give it time, you’ll warm up to me. Everyone does eventually.” She gave him the smarmiest grin she could muster and winked. He stared down at her, a tired expression on his face.

“_What is it that tawtute say? _‘First time for everything?’”

“Ha!” She barked out a laugh. “You’re funny, you know? I mean if it had been like, Jake, you’d scared instead of me, I’d have thought it was hilarious.” He made a sound Lydia thought was a snort of laughter, but he kept walking, betraying nothing. “Next time you do something like that, lemme know, I wanna do it too.”

“_I will think about it_.” Tone serious, as always, but Lydia could’ve sworn he was smirking. She grinned to herself, as the moved on, thinking about what was to come from this new endeavor with her grumpy guide.


	8. We Didn't Start The Fire/We're Not Gonna Take It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, thanks again for your patience and support!! Two songs for this chapter! Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start The Fire" and Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It" (I hope these titles are making sense to you guys and not just me XD) like I said last time, you can find more updates/memes/avatar content in general on my blog @pandoraheadcanons on tumblr!

It had been almost one month since Lydia arrived at Hometree, and she’d finally managed to get her trailer looking the way she wanted. All of Grace’s specimens were organized and out of the way, labels and observations placed orderly around them. Grace’s beloved pictures were taped around on the walls and desks, and Lydia had slowly been adding her own pictures to the collection. She’d found the old camera stuffed deep in a drawer, and had managed to get it up and working again. Tsyal and Antep had been the first eager ones to take a picture with Lydia, and soon they had roped in the other children. They even started taking their own pictures with the camera, and loved playing with it. Her favorite picture was hanging above her computer, a picture of her and the girls that one of the other kids had snapped when they were playing with it. Sure, it was blurry and out of focus, but it was special nonetheless.

To the kids, she’d become to a story-teller, and a sort of babysitter. Her information/reference tablet had a program for telling fairytales and the like, which she translated into Na’vi for them. She’d hold it up like a book and do her best at character voices, reading stories like Rapunzel and Sleeping Beauty to wide-eyed listeners. In return, they all told her their favorite stories, voices overlapping and arguing on the details within. It was a favorite pastime now, desperately trying to transcribe all the stories she was hearing, all the different viewpoints. What did they mean? What were their lessons? It was a whole different type of adventure for her. Not to mention a wonderful way to become more accepted by the community at large.

Things with Tsu’tey were going…okay. He didn’t seem to actively despise her presence anymore, which was definitely a step in the right direction. He’d let her have her survival knife back (no luck on her machete yet), and was still taking her out in the woods and around Hometree when he had the time. When he didn’t, and was off training his hunters, Lydia busied herself with the other clan members. She was allowed to observe the work of the weavers at the loom, and the leather tanners working on hides. Mo’sut had grown more accustomed to her being around the food preparation area, and no longer snapped at her for missing an instruction. She’d found Mo’sut’s _teylu_ really was as good as her daughters had said, even if her spice option was limited (the effect of Pandoran plant matter on the human stomach wasn’t entirely understood yet).

It was evening now, just past the last meal of the day. The young children were retiring to bed with their families, while small groups of people remained throughout the bowels and hollows of the tree, talking in low voices. Lydia was wandering around, enjoying the late night solitude and listening to the village’s sounds as it began to go into its late night ritual.

Small fires and bug-lit bladder lanterns cast a mix of orange and blue glows across the trees walls, shadows jumping and flickering across them. It was definitely comforting now, if not a little eerie. Patches of glowing green moss grew around the floor, lighting up her footsteps. She was so absorbed in watching the phenomena that she almost stumbled into a small fire pit, the sight of a flame licking up startling her. Embarrassed, she glanced up to see only one person sitting there. Tsu’tey.

He was staring at her, that old look of mild irritation clear as day. Sheepishly, she smiled back at him.

“Hey, guess you saw that, huh?” Her fingers found her necklace again, pads rubbing against the tooth’s serrations.

“It would be hard to not see you almost walk into a fire.” His eyes flicked up to her then back at the flame.

“Yeah, I guess it would…mind if I join you?” He shrugged in response, his eyes still focused on the flames.

She sat down what she deemed a respectful distance from him, crossing her legs and leaning with her elbows on her knees. Peering up at him, she was reminded again of just how much bigger he was. Or maybe it was how small she was.

The ensuing silence was stifling. Picking at the smooth bark beneath her, she desperately tried thinking of something to say, since it seemed Tsu’tey would not be the first one to initiate a conversation.

“So…I appreciate all the help you’ve been.” He turned and looked to her with a confused look on his face. “No, I mean it! I’ve learned a lot from you and the others! The forest isn’t as scary anymore, and I’m noticing more things all the time, like tracks and bugs and other stuff I’d have missed before. It’s nice.” Another shy grin. She desperately hoped she wasn’t going to say something to make him any more irritable than usual. And for whatever reason, being so close to him like this made her nervous.

“It is what Mo’at asked of me.” His tone betrayed nothing, eyes still pinned to the flames.

“Well…yeah. But I guess you could’ve been meaner. Like you could’ve pushed me out of a tree or something.”

“There would be no need to push you, you would fall on your own.” She laughed at that and he turned to look at her, confused again.

“Yeah probably. But, you can’t get good at anything without failing at it first.” Tsu’tey only gave an affirmative grunt. “Are you alright? You’re brooding more than usual.”

“What is ‘brooding’?” He finally fully turned towards her.

“It’s like…grumpy, grouchy…you don’t wanna talk to anyone and avoid people.”

“I’m not brooding.”

“I think you are, though. So like I asked, are you alright?” He sighed. Or groaned. Lydia really couldn’t tell with him sometimes.

“If you will not stop asking, then I will tell you. What do you know about the Dreamwalker Jakesully?” That…caught her off guard and she paused.

“Like…about him in general? First of all, Jake is his first name, and Sully is his last name, so you can just call him Jake. He had a twin brother that I knew better, Tommy, but he was killed right before we left. Jake came here instead of him.”

“A twin?”

“A brother who was the same as him. Looked exactly like him, sounded like him, born at the same time. Do Na’vi not have twins?”

“I did not know the word. They are not common, but they happen.”

“Oh, okay. Well yeah, Tommy was the smart one, who got on the program to come here. But when he died, Jake was recruited, because they’re identical and he could be a Dreamwalker, like Tommy was supposed to.” He hummed in response.

“He said he was a warrior. What does that mean for _tawtute_?”

“He was a marine. That was what he meant when he said ‘Jar-Head Clan.’ That’s not a clan, ‘Jar-Head’ is just what people call marines. Remember how I told people say the dumbest warriors? Yeah. Jake was a corporal, so he was only one rank up from the lowest.” She saw his eyes glint in the firelight and a smirk appeared.

“So he was not even that good of a warrior then?”

“I guess. Don’t know too much about the military’s rank system, I can’t stand the bastards.” He cocked his head at her, eyes narrowed just the smallest bit.

“Why?”

“They work for the people in charge, who are the people who got our planet in its current condition. They blew up towns and invaded places for oil and minerals. Everything they’re doing here, they did on Earth first. And people like Jake will say they joined the military to protect our home and our ‘freedom,’ but then they’ll just invade some place until the companies like the RDA get what they want. He’s not a warrior, he’s just a jerk they gave a gun to.”

He remained silent for the duration of her rant and for several minutes afterwards while Lydia glared into the fire, mind whirling at the absolute injustice of it all.

“Why didn’t your people stop them?” She inhaled deeply, eyes boring into the embers of the fire.

“We tried. We protested, we marched and demanded change, but no matter how many of us there were, we weren’t listened to. Money talks, and it was louder than any of us could’ve been. The people with the money bankrolled the people who were supposed to be able to change things. A few people caused that level of disaster. You know this tooth I always wear?” She paused and waited for him to nod. He did, glancing down at it. “This is from an animal called a bull shark that lived in the ocean. And they’re all gone. Extinct. The oceans got so sick they couldn’t support much life. They cut down the forests, bulldozed over whatever they wanted to. If you tried to stop them, you got in trouble. It’s all just. Fucking bullshit.”

“They kill your Earth then come here to kill too? Because of your ‘money’?”

“Yep. Awful, isn’t it?” He nodded.

“That will not happen here. It will not be allowed.”

“I hope you’re right, for all our sakes.”

Several more silent minutes passed, neither saying anything to fill the air, still heavy with Lydia’s anger. When Tsu’tey spoke again, Lydia barely heard him.

“If Jake has done these things, destroying and killing, on your world, do you think he will do them here?” He wasn’t looking at the flames anymore. He was staring at her, as if he was trying to see through her. Something about his expression was frigid now, quiet anger right under the surface.

“I don’t know. If someone in charge told him to, probably. He said he was here to learn, but I don’t know if I believe that. Grace didn’t like him.”

“_Neytiri should have killed him when she had the chance_.” There was the anger now, right on top. The issue that had been gnawing and needling him, finally being expressed. At least to her.

“_Maybe. But there’s not a lot to do about it now, except keep a close eye on him, I guess_.”

“_You would be so quick to turn against him_?” Distrust, just a little bit, lingered in his voice.

“_Yeah. I don’t like him, and I don’t want to see anyone here get hurt. I don’t want what happened on Earth to happen here, and if that means not trusting Jake, then I don’t trust him_.”

“_That is not what I was expecting you to say_.” His gaze didn’t seem as hard as it had only moments ago as he looked down at her.

“_Well, I hope it shows you that I mean what I say. Trying to figure out how to get the _RDA_ to stop is what’s important to me_.” He paused to think on it for a moment, before closing his eyes and giving her a nod.

“_If Mo’at trusts you, and you mean what you say, then you may not be that bad._”

“Gee, thanks.” But Lydia smiled at him nonetheless. He hadn’t yet responded when they heard a small noise behind one of the tree’s column-walls. Tsu’tey pinned his ears back and made a sound between a hiss and a grumble.

_“What are you doing? You should not listen to conversations that you are not a part of._” Another person peered out, then stepped out into the light.

“_I didn’t mean too, I just came to ask you something…_” Another sigh.

“_Alright, what?_” The boy ran over, sliding over to him.

“_When do you think my Iknimaya will be? Ikeyni says within the next few seasons but I was hoping it would be sooner._” Tsu’tey frowned.

“_It will happen when Ikeyni says you’re ready. You’ve barely begun training, you must be patient._”

“Uhm…are you going to introduce me?” Lydia gave an uncertain smile, eyes darting between Tsu’tey and the new person.

“_This is Arvok. He is my younger brother_.” Lydia didn’t react for a half second before her face split into a grin.

“_Aww that’s wicked sweet! I didn’t even know you had a brother, you should’ve said something!_”

“_It is not ‘sweet.’ And I felt no need to tell you more than you needed to know._”

“_Hello, your name is Lydia? What do Sky People say? ‘Nice to meet you?’_” Arvok said, literally butting in as he stuck his head in between Tsu’tey and Lydia.

“_Yes, it’s nice to meet you, too! I’m sorry we didn’t get to meet sooner!_” She smiled at him before casting Tsu’tey a dour look.

“_If that is all you need, you should go to sleep. Your Iknimaya will not come any sooner if you are too tired to train_.”

“_If you say so… Lydia, I will see you soon!_” he waved at her before running off into the hollows and presumably up to the hammocks the Omaticaya slept in.

Once he was well out of hearing distance, Lydia turned back to face Tsu’tey.

“He seems like a good kid.”

Tsu’tey’s voice was soft when he responded. “He is.” Several more quiet beats passed before Lydia scooted closer.

“I have a little brother, too, you know. He’s supposed to come here on another ship, but I still miss him.” He glanced at her, surprise on his face.

“Why is he not here now?”

“He hasn’t finished his training yet, just like Arvok, I guess. Or he hadn’t finished it when I left. I suppose he’s on his way here now.” She blinked several times, eyes trying to bat back tears. “He’s coming here to be an astronomer. To look at the stars and the universe.”

“How long?”

“Before he gets here? I…really don’t know, I don’t know what ship he’s on. I guess Grace could look, but it could be months or years.”

“So more Sky People are coming?” His tone was low and cold, unhappiness giving his face a sour look.

“Yeah. We’ll have to make sure they don’t hurt this world like they did my world. But like I said, that’s why I’m here. To try to get something good done.”

“_I find it harder to believe that will happen_.”

“_I know. But here’s to hoping_.” She smiled at him, but it didn’t really reach her eyes. Halting the RDA juggernaut would be an uphill battle, through quicksand, with one hand tied behind your back. Still, no one ever won by not trying, so trying was all there was, for now. The RDA didn’t have their home field advantage on Pandora, and with that to consider, a new set of circumstances might level their new playing field out quite a bit. _Yeah, here’s to hoping…_ she thought.

Soon the night’s quiet atmosphere settled over them, the forest harmonies barely audible within the safety and warmth of Hometree.

*****

Tsu’tey stood in the mid-morning sunlight in the _pa’li_ grazing area, watching his two _taronyu _practice shooting while maintaining control of their mounts. It was going…decently. Saeyla had indeed been practicing with Maru when they both had time, and was at least hitting her target more often than not. Ka’ani was hitting the target every other shot or so, some flying clean past the goals, others hitting almost center.

It was his control over his aim at higher speeds that was the problem. Ka’ani needed to learn how to balance his thoughts between aiming and keeping his _pa’li_ at a steady pace. He could see the animal stuttering every few passes, trying to keep up with Ka’ani’s thought commands as they shifted between aiming and speed.

Both he and Saeyla would have their _Iknimaya_ very soon now, and Tsu’tey was almost confident in their ability to pass. Almost. Just a little more practice aiming on and controlling a _pa’li_, and they should be ready to get their own _ikran_. They weren’t his first _taronyu_ he’d trained, and every time it was a challenge in its own way. But that feeling of pride and accomplishment he got when they completed their _Iknimaya_ wasn’t something he would ever forget.

Saeyla had just hit her fourth target in a row when he heard someone behind him. He turned to find no one at first, then remembered he had to look down to see the _hi’i tawtute_ that he’d been charged with.

“It’s impossible to sneak up on you, isn’t it?”

“_When you make as much noise as an angtsik, yes_.” She gave him an exasperated look.

“What do you mean, I was quiet!”

“_To your ears, maybe_.” He turned his attention back to Saeyla and Ka’ani, watching their form and speed carefully.

“_So they’re practicing shooting while riding_?”

“_No, they are fishing_.” His gaze was withering when he turned towards her.

“Yeah, yeah, okay smartass, dumb question.” She rolled her eyes then looked back as Ka’ani hissed when he just barely missed his target. “It looks fun. Wish I could do it.”

“You can’t control the _pa’li_ without your hands, it would not work.”

“Not really. The Mongolian people were famous for their ability to shoot on horseback. They were some of the best warriors in history.” His eyes flicked down to her.

“How?”

“How’d they do it? They just had wicked good bonds with their horses, raised them from birth. A rider and his horse just know how to work together. I guess a mental connection would help, but horses know how to read people well. So you just trust your horse, and have really strong legs, I guess.” She shrugged, eyes following Saeyla’s _pa’li _she brought it around again.

“Hm.” The concept of a rider having a strong bond with his mount without _tsaheylu_ was interesting, and not something he’d thought possible. Maybe later he would ask to hear more about the Mongolian horse warriors. A shout interrupted his thoughts and he turned towards the noise.

“_Eykyu, did you see?! Eight shots, all together!_” Saeyla called, her grin almost up to her eyes. Tsu’tey looked back up at her, eyes finding her targets.

“_Good. Try to do it again._” He nodded at her, cool approval. Saeyla seemed to float when she beamed back at him.

“_I will, Eykyu!_” She rounded her _pa’li_ for another trip around, pulling her arrows out of the targets.

Lydia watched her before looking up to Tsu’tey with a grin on her face. “Okay, she definitely likes you.” He furrowed his brow down at her.

“I know. She will grow out of it.” Lydia snorted.

“Damn, that’s cold.”

“’Cold?’ It is warm outside?” She laughed and he frowned. What was so funny about that?

“No, it means like, that’s harsh to say. Mean.”

“Oh.” _Tawtute and their stupid sayings. _“It is not mean, it is the truth. I am to be mated with Neytiri, and she knows this.”

“That’s not how liking someone works, she can’t help how she feels.” He sighed, exasperated.

“I know that, but there is nothing to do about it. She needs to focus on her _Iknimaya_, not me.”

“Glad I never had you for a teacher…”

“_Seeing how you act, I am glad I did not have you as a student_.” For whatever reason, his words lacked the usual bite he’d come to associate with her. And she laughed, just like she always did when he jabbed at her.

“Oh, hello there!” He heard her exclaim and turned to look at the cause. A stray _pa’li_ was sniffing the top of her head like she was looking for nectar. He made a sound somewhere between a laugh and a huff.

“_That is the same one Neytiri let you sit on._” She giggled and reached over to pet the animals’ leg.

“Can I sit on her again? Please?” Tsu’tey crossed his arms.

“_You have not earned the right to ride_.” A pout formed on her face.

“But I’m not gonna ride her, I just wanna sit on her. Pretty please?” She looked up at him, eyes wide.

“_I’m not going to pick you up so you can sit on her_.”

“I don’t need you too. I can get up myself, I just need a running start.” His brows raised in disbelief.

“You are going to jump onto a _pa’li_? Are you aware of how short you are?”

“What?! Me?! Short?! No, I had no idea!” She made a face at him and then backed up. “Just hold her still, please.” He shook his head but held the _pa’li_ in place, waiting for her to attempt a mount.

Sprinting forward, she used all the force in her small body to launch herself up and managed to just get her hand around the animals crest. Her other hand grabbed the chitinous plate on its shoulder, and with that leverage, she hoisted herself up onto the back of the _pa’li_.

“What’d I tell you?!” She grinned at him triumphantly as he just stared at her.

“How are you able to jump like that?” Begrudgingly, he realized he was almost impressed with her.

“Like I told Neytiri, I played a sport that required me to jump high. So I just practiced a lot until I got good enough. And I guess some of its natural talent.” She shrugged. “But you did what everyone always did. You underestimated me because of my height.”

He tipped his head towards her, a silent concession to her point. She got the gesture and smiled back. Softer, now, than the bright, toothy grin of triumph. He turned from her, hand still resting on the shoulder of the _pa’li_.

Saeyla was watching them. When she saw him look, she glanced away, her face hard to read. Ka’ani seemed to not notice anything amiss as he ran to targets, pulling arrows out for reuse.

“So how do Sky People ride what you call ‘horse’s’ without _tsaheylu_?”

“Well, you know those guiding ropes you use when you’re not riding?” He nodded. “We would use them all the time, sort of. There’s a bar called a ‘bit’ that the horse has in its mouth, and it’s connected to reins that you use to steer the horse. If you want to go faster, you click and nudge the horse’s side and go faster.”

“Click?”

“Like this,” She clicked with her tongue. “Or this sound,” She made a tch-tch sound and puckered her lips. “And as for feeling, horses are supposed to be like weirdly good at telling their riders emotions, like I said. If you’re anxious, the horse will feel the same way.” The animal shifted under her, pawing the earth and shaking its head in response to the noise.

“_It still seems too complicated_.” It seemed was unthinkable to be able to bond with an animal without being able to fully operate as one.

“Maybe, but that’s just how it works on Earth.” She leaned forward and stroked the _pa’li’s_ crest. “And I think she likes me, anyway. Don’t you, pretty girl?” She made more kissy noises to the animal, cooing at it.

“Alright, enough. Off.” He tilted his head down and to the side. She pouted.

“Aww, do I have to? I just got up here, and I can finally see at eye-level with you!” She batted her eyelashes at him, leaning in closer to him forcing him to back up several paces.

“Just get off the horse, Lydia.”

“Ugh, fineee.” She slumped over and slowly let herself slide off, hitting the ground with a thud. Then she looked up at him, a smile on her face. “That’s the first time you’ve called me my name, not just ‘_tawtute_.’”

He didn’t respond for a second, ears flicking back. _Was it_? “Hmph.” He lightly smacked the _pa’li_ on its haunch and set it trotting off. She laughed again, that sound that he’d almost become accustomed to.

“Well, thanks anyway. Now I think Ka’ani wants to ask you something.” She pointed and he turned to see Ka’ani standing awkwardly several paces away, hands gripping his bow in front of him. He sighed and stepped away from Lydia.

“_Yes, Ka’ani?_”

“_Eykyu, the talioang hunt is coming quickly, and Saeyla and myself were wondering if we would be hunting?_” His hands filled with his bow, nervousness easy to see.

“_You will be hunting. But if you are pa’liya maktoyu or ikrana maktoyu will depend on your training and skill in the time between now and then_.” He brightened visibly and nodded respectfully.

“_We will not let you down, Eykyu!_” He jogged back over to Saeyla, her eyes flicking between Ka’ani, Lydia and himself. She looked concerned, probably because of the impending challenge of _Iknimaya_.

He watched Ka’ani and Saeyla quietly confer, whatever they were talking about clearly intense as Saeyla hissed something at Ka’ani and he shrunk back.

“_You two can talk when you are done. Go again, and do better_.” He pointed back to their _pa’li_ and made his face stern. They both jumped and stood straight before slipping off to return to shooting practice.

A series of tiny giggles pulled his attention away from his _taronyu_ and he turned to see Antep, Tsyal, Nekawn, and several other little ones crowding around Lydia.

“_Please come, you told us you would tell us more stories!_” Tsyal grabbed onto her arm and Antep shoved her way in.

“_We want to hear the story about the lady with the magic shoes!_” Lydia laughed and stood.

“_You mean_ ‘Cinderella?’ Alright_, I’ll tell you the story_.” The children began to pull her away, laughing and chattering over each other. “I guess I’ll see you later, Tsu’tey!” She shouted over her shoulder and then she was back talking to the pack that had gathered around her as they moved back into the Tree’s hollows.

He found himself staring at her as she walked away. The way the children embraced her, the way she laughed and humored them. It was as if something was changing around him. She said she desired peace and communication, and had done nothing to prove otherwise. She’d expressed her dislike of JakeSully (_Just Jake_, he reminded himself). There was nothing to indicate dishonesty in her words, and her anger felt real to him, almost similar to his. He didn’t want to think of the possibility that he’d misjudged her, but it was worming into his mind nonetheless.


End file.
